The Influence of Underwater Sound on Marine Organisms

Extract

As sea traffic grows, so too does the problem of the acoustic pollution of fishing grounds. This paper describes the measurement and analysis of ship-produced underwater sounds and their effect on the behaviour of certain fishes. It would seem that their influence on marine organisms is a growing problem and should not be ignored by navigators, for the sounds produced by large or high-speed vessels, or even fishing boats, can frighten fish shoals or cause them to change their migration routes.

After a series of tests to measure and analyse the underwater sound, the output of submerged loud-speakers, either at sea or in an aquarium, was adjusted to ensure that the sound intensity near the fish was at the required level and the fish behaviour was carefully observed. For these experiments a hydrophone was connected to a pre-amplifier. A signal amplified by the pre-amplifier is attenuated before being sent to the main amplifier, the sound level being read directly on an indicator using the sound analysing character ‘C’. A tape recorder registers the sound signal in a flat response from 20 to 50 Hz to within 3 dB. A tracing recorder was also sometimes used and the two methods gave almost the same results.