Human-generated ocean noise from shipping, sonar and industrial activity interferes with cetacean communication, navigation and foraging, causing welfare harms across whale and dolphin populations.
Ocean noise pollution causes welfare harms to marine mammals that range from chronic communication interference to acute injury and death. Whales that cannot hear each other across their acoustic range experience social isolation and reduced reproductive success. Dolphins that cannot echolocate effectively in noisy shipping lanes have impaired foraging and navigation. Beaked whales exposed to military sonar suffer hemorrhage in their acoustic sensory organs and mass strand in behavioral disorientation. The problem has grown with shipping traffic and industrial ocean use over decades. Solutions require international regulation of shipping noise, military sonar restrictions in critical habitat, and industry standards for quieter vessel and equipment design.