As the Trump administration looks to increase production of domestic oil and gas, they’ve given preliminary approvals for seismic exploration to see what’s under the ocean floor. But marine biologists worry about the impact that process could have on some of the ocean’s most critically endangered creatures: right whales.
That was on the mind of researcher Charles "Stormy" Mayo, director of the Right Whale Ecology Program at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, as he searched the water off Cape Cod recently from inside the cabin of a 44-foot boat. The radio crackled with a message from a spotter plane overhead: About eight individual right whales were spotted going on long dives.
Much of Mayo’s work focuses on the North Atlantic right whale.
“A population that numbers probably in the vicinity of 410 animals left," he said. "And the most troubling part of the story is that their numbers appear to be declining.”
As he talked, Mayo kept his eye on the water.
“There's something over there, way over there,” he said, peering into the distance. “There's a spout!”
The boat headed in that direction. And then, there it was. A right whale — about as big as the boat — floated at the surface, and exhaled through its blowhole before taking a dive, its huge tail disappearing under the waves. Only a boat with a federal research permit is allowed to get this close.
The greatest threats to right whales are ship strikes and entanglements in fishing lines, Mayo said. But he’s increasingly worried about the oil and gas industry’s desire to see what’s under the Atlantic seafloor.
In November, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reversed an Obama-administration decision, permitting five companies to use sound waves to explore for oil and gas between Delaware and Florida.
“Is seismic testing something that is likely safe? I don't think many of us believe that,” Mayo said. “We think seismic testing is damaging, not just to whales but to much of the marine ecosystem.”
Chris Clark, a Cornell University researcher and expert in acoustic signaling behavior in animals, said seismic exploration is based on a very simple principle.
“You make a very loud sound, and the sound energy travels through the water and enters the earth's crust and then reflects off of things in the Earth's crust,” Clark said. “And then you pick up the reflections, and you then can figure out whether there's something underneath the seafloor of the ocean that might be worth exploring for, in terms of oil and gas.”
That incredibly loud sound comes from an air cannon that goes off continually about every 10 seconds. Clark worries seismic blasts could disrupt the basic activities of whales and a range of other marine life.
“Navigating, finding food, finding mates, detecting predators, maintaining social networks — all of this is done through sound, not through sight,” Clark said.
Gail Adams, a spokeswoman for the International Association of Geophysical Contractors, said seismic testing is used, without negative impacts, for research and in the development of offshore wind. And, she said, they make an effort to avoid whales.
“We have people on board the vessels that check for the presence of marine mammals and other marine species within a specified exclusion zone that makes sure that the area is free before we begin our operations,” she said. “We have passive acoustic monitoring on board that listens for the vocalization of marine mammals.”
They also consider migration patterns and breeding times, Adams said.
Scott Kraus, chief scientist of marine mammal conservation at the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, said that’s not enough. He testified at a congressional hearing on the subject earlier this month.
“The mitigation strategies employed by — for all of these seismic activities are a little bit of a lipstick on a pig,” he told the committee. “That is to say, they will prevent immediate mortality if a whale gets so close that it's going to get blown up.”
But, he said, they won’t do anything to stop the disruption from the sound that can travel for hundreds of miles.
A coalition of environmental groups and attorneys general from nine states have filed suit to stop seismic testing. So it may ultimately be up to the courts to determine what the ocean sounds like.
