A new project off the coast of Baltimore, Co Cork, will examine whether rising noise pollution in Ireland’s oceans is having an impact on marine life. Stationed for the next 12 months, the buoy will use an underwater microphone to record whale species in real-time and train machine learning tools to identify the calls of different species. It will look to identify and classify the species in Irish waters and learn how noise pollution may be changing their habits. Lead researcher, ecologist Emer Keaveney from ORCA, said increased levels of marine traffic from container ships and other boats has created a “significant noise pollution issue”. She said estimates suggest ocean noise levels are at least 10 times higher today than they were a few decades ago.

Source: The Irish Times March 19, 2021 13:18 UTC