Noise pollution disrupts cetacean communication, navigation, and foraging, with significant welfare impacts on individual animals.
Ocean noise pollution is a chronic welfare stressor for cetaceans who depend on acoustic signals for virtually every aspect of their lives. Mothers separated from calves by noise masking, whales unable to communicate across their traditional ranges, and dolphins with impaired foraging efficiency all experience welfare costs from an increasingly noisy ocean environment. Reducing shipping noise is both technically feasible and welfare-significant.