Impact of anthropogenic sounds on fishes

Abstract

It is widely suspected that anthropogenic sound could impact the life and survival of marine mammals. One of the major sources of anthropogenic sounds in many parts of the world are seismic air guns used in geologic exploration. Yet there are few data on the physiological and behavioral impacts of air-guns on fishes or marine mammals. This study tested the effects of exposure to air guns on the ears of marine fishes. Pink snapper (Chrysophrys auratus) held in cages were exposed to signals from an air gun towed toward and away from the cages, mimicking the stimulus from an approaching/passing seismic vessel. Results from scanning electron microscopic examination of the ears showed extensive damage occurring weeks after exposure. Damage included deep holes in the saccular epithelium in places where sensory hair cells would be located, and/or ‘‘blebbing’’ on the surface of the epithelium suggesting dying sensory cells. While it is recognized that fishes outside of a cage might swim away from a loud sound, the results reported here suggest that very intense sounds could have a significant impact on the auditory system of fishes, and perhaps other marine organisms.

Hearing Sensitivity of the Walleye Pollock

“…Age-1 fish had a total length (TL) of 14.3 6 1.3 cm (mean 6 SD) and wet body weight (WT) of 27.3 6 7.0 g. Age-2 fish measured 25.9 6 2.3 cm TL and 193.6 6 48.9 g WT, and age-3 fish were 30.9 6 4.8 cm TL and 544.0 6 160.2 g WT. The TL measurements can be converted to fork length (FL) or standard length (SL) estimates using the following functional regression models, which were fitted to pooled walleye pollock length data collected in the Gulf of Alaska during 1998-2003(Buchheister and Wilson 2005 and during 2008 (E. Logerwell, NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Seattle Washington, unpublished) following Ricker (1973)…”

“…Many species use sound to communicate and detect potential predators and prey. More importantly, all species use sound to get an overall ''sense'' of their environment (Fay and Popper 2000;Popper 2003). While fishes also use additional sensory cues in their normal lives, sound provides rapid and highly directional information that may arise at a considerable distance from the animal.…”

“…Recently, several issues have made it necessary to better understand fish hearing and how fishes respond to sounds (Hastings 2008;Popper and Schilt 2008;Popper and Hastings 2009). There is a growing concern that human-generated (anthropogenic) sounds may potentially alter the behavior of fish and result in their active movement away from sound sources (Popper 2003;Hastings and Popper 2005). Several studies have suggested that different fish species will show some behavioral changes in areas of seismic air gun activity (Pearson et al 1987Skalski et al 1992;Engås et al 1996;Slotte et al 2004), although other studies do not show this to be the case (e.g., Wardle et al 2001).…”

Impact of a noise-polluted urban environment on the song frequencies of a cosmopolitan songbird, the Great Tit (Parus major), in Denmark

“…The reserve consists of mixed forest and woodland with scattered bogs and ponds. The intensively-studied Great Tit population at this site breeds largely in nest boxes in the northern half (e.g., Otter et al 1999, Peake et al 2001, 2002, Blumenrath & Dabelsteen 2004. A road with diurnal commuter traffic is located on the border of the south end of the property.…”

“…One of the indirect effects of urban encroachment is the development of anthropogenic noise pollution associated with vehicle traffic, and other mechanical sources. Noise pollution has a far-reaching effect on a variety of both terrestrial and aquatic animals (Foote et al 2004, Popper et al 2002, Wright et al 2007a, 2007b). However, only recent studies have considered the chronic exposure to such noise (Foote et al 2004, Wright et al 2007b, Francis et al 2009, Francis et al 2012.…”