Time to turn down the volume in Canada’s ocean estate

August 6, 2024 | 5 min. read

Legislation for regulating noise in Canadian waters is long overdue – and the impacts are significant

By SeaBlue contributing author, Holly Lake

To look out over the ocean from any part of Canada’s coastline in good weather is to be gifted with a picture of calm and quiet. 

But beneath the surface, it’s a very different scene. Thanks to human activity, the ocean is becoming louder with increased shipping traffic and marine construction, as well as coastal urbanization and expanding resource extraction, including seismic testing. 

For the most part, the rising volume has been out of sight and out of mind. 

“Unlike garbage on the street or smog, noise is not a source of pollution we can see,” says Kristen Powell, marine conservation and shipping specialist at WWF-Canada.  

“It’s something you don’t think about unless you’re there and you’re hearing it. We don’t live underwater, so a lot of us cannot understand how incredibly loud it can be, and what that noise does to an animal that relies on sound to survive.”

The federal government committed to developing a national ocean noise strategy when it launched the Oceans Protection Plan  in 2016. An initial commitment was for a draft strategy to be released in the summer of 2021, but that was delayed, in part by the pandemic. The government then committed to releasing it in the spring of 2024, but so far, that hasn’t happened.

Even Canada’s Marine Protected Area (MPA) Protection Standard, which, the government says, “aims to help safeguard areas of our oceans that need protection from the potentially harmful effects of industrial activities” does not restrict noise. 

“This speaks to the larger picture that underwater noise is not technically defined as a source of pollution in Canadian waters,” says Powell. 

“So you don’t see it incorporated into management plans for marine protected areas or recovery plans for species at risk.”

As a priority, underwater noise has fallen on the back burner, she says, which is problematic as it’s increasingly recognized globally as an ecosystem-wide threat that puts marine biodiversity at risk.

Noise permeates the water column at high and low frequencies, drowning out the soundscapes for marine life. 

Research has shown that noise impacts every species, big or small. Even if they don’t rely on echolocation, they use sound in one way or another — to communicate socially or between mother and calf. 

“One of the big issues with underwater noise is that it masks those sounds, making it more difficult for them to communicate with each other,” says Kristin Westdal, science director at Oceans North. 

She compares it to trying to have a conversation with someone in a loud restaurant. As the volume increases, yelling at each other across the table becomes necessary. Eventually, you can’t hear what the other is saying and must go somewhere else to talk. 

While leaving a restaurant is one thing, being displaced from a habitat is quite another. 

“That’s one of the most pressing concerns when you have animals that are eco-locators, like narwhal and beluga,” Westdal says. 

“They’re using sound to navigate in water and to find their prey. So, as soon as you interrupt those two things, it’s going to have some serious implications for the individual. And then over time, potentially the population as well.”

The short and long-term impacts from underwater noise include increased stress levels and stress hormones, reduced ability to detect and avoid predators, reduced foraging opportunities and increased risk of ship strikes and stranding events.

“Canada has been aware of the underwater noise impacts in our own waters for over a decade. But the government has yet to implement a comprehensive plan to address this harmful source of pollution,” Powell says.

Creating one, however, is complicated. 

For starters, noise travels differently in water than on land, and can reach extreme distances. Research has shown that seismic testing explosions that are part of oil and gas exploration can be heard thousands of kilometres away from the source. That’s like hearing the noise in Calgary from something that’s happened in Vancouver, says Westdal. 

How sound travels sub-surface also varies depending on the water temperature, pressure, and depth, and different structures can change the way it moves. 

Consequently, there are no easy ways to tie a certain ship speed to a specific impact. It’s also hard to say at what frequency species like bowhead and narwhal will be impacted and how far a particular sound displaces them.

Drawing on the advice of experts, WWF-Canada says an ocean noise strategy needs four pillars to establish a strong framework with measurable and urgent action.

First, it must establish a pathway to enact noise limits for activities known to negatively affect soundscapes, including shipping and oil and gas exploration. These should be informed by the biological limits of affected species and by scientific and Indigenous knowledge. 

Second, the strategy needs to take an area-based approach that includes noise reduction targets in regions that are already excessively loud, including the Salish Sea on the West Coast and the St. Lawrence Seaway on the East Coast. This must extend to historically quiet areas that are rapidly developing, specifically the Arctic. 

As part of this, Canada should prioritize safeguarding protected ocean areas and critical habitats for at-risk species. 

The third pillar involves incentivizing the development and adoption of technologies for noise-producing ocean activities. Measures that can reduce noise, such as ship slowdowns in critical habitats and marine protected areas, must immediately be implemented.

Finally, mandatory measures must be included to ensure noise levels are monitored, and limits and noise reduction targets are enforced.

For Westdal, this is key.

“It needs to have some real teeth. It should include speed limits and decibel levels because we have that information. We need to actually use it instead of giving people suggestions,“ she says. 

“I know that for commercial vessels, time is money. But if you’re making money off what you’re moving around, you’ve got to pay for what you’re doing, too.”

Incorporating a precautionary approach is also critical, as the potential for damage is broader than most appreciate and “the cumulative impacts of underwater noise extend far beyond our current level of understanding,” Powell says.

That’s why it’s urgent to release a draft strategy for public consultation so that work can begin on a final strategy, and ultimately, action can be taken on and under the water. 

She says Canada has been active on this issue at the International Maritime Organization, which revised its guidelines for underwater radiated noise from shipping last year. 

“So why can’t we see proactive measures taken at the domestic level?”

With this disconnect, time ticks towards the tipping point for marine ecosystems. 

“I think the best time to plant a tree was yesterday,” Westdal says. 

“It’s much harder to come back from something than to build something when things are in decent shape and when you have time.”

From here, she says the ocean is only going to get noisier. 

“There’s no better time to pause and try to figure out what this means for the animals and the environment and how we can improve this for the future,” she says. 

“We still have time to implement something useful.”