Blue whales forced to increase their ’singing’ to cope with noise pollution from ships

September 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has determined that killer whales have to raise their voices to be heard over ship noise, and the effort may be wearing the whales out as they try to find food amid dwindling numbers of salmon. According to a report in National Geographic News, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) carried out the research.

September 2nd, 2009 SYDNEY - Secret Soviet whaling between 1947 and 1973 wiped out some humpback whale population in the Pacific, according to a new study. Wally Franklin, doctoral student at the Sydney based Southern Cross University's Whale Research Centre and co-director of The Oceania Project, co-authored the paper.

August 3rd, 2009 LONDON - Hydrophones have revealed that bowhead whales can sing in different voices to attract a mate and thereby ensure the species' survival. This is probably because global warming has opened up the Northwest Passage in 125,000 years, enabling the 100 tonne bowhead whales of the northern Pacific to reach Disko Bay in Greenland to mate with other whales.

July 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new University of Colorado at Boulder study shows the strongest evidence yet that noise pollution negatively influences bird populations. The three-year study compared nesting birds inhabiting pinyon-juniper woodland sites surrounding natural gas extraction sites and their noise-producing compressors with birds nesting in adjacent, quieter woodland sites.

July 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has come up with the strongest evidence yet that noise pollution negatively influences the nesting habits of birds. The study also indicates that at least a few species opt for noisy areas over quiet ones, perhaps because of their vocalisation pitches, a reduction in nest predators and less competition from other song birds that prefer quiet environments.

July 21st, 2009 LONDON - A probe for noise pollution was ordered into a Brit Primary school after locals complained about kids' laughter. Council inspectors heard of the complaints of an "unbearable" din at playtimes, and carried out tests to see whether it exceeded World Health Organisation limits.

July 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has suggested that rising levels of smokestack emissions from oceangoing ships will cause an estimated 87,000 deaths worldwide each year by 2012, which is almost one-third higher than previously believed data. The study said that government action to reduce sulfur emissions from shipping fuel (the source of air pollution linked to an increased risk of illness and death) could reduce that toll.

July 7th, 2009 LONDON - a report published by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has suggested that watching whales is far more profitable than eating them. According to New Scientist, the report found that revenues from whale watching in 2008 reached 2.1 billion dollars, which is double the amount earned a decade ago.

June 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has explained how marine mammals like seals and whales evolved to dive in the sea, and cope with the needs of a life in the aquatic environment. An aquatic lifestyle imposes serious demands for the organism, and this is true even for the tiniest molecules that form our body.

June 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new study, scientists have warned that a new form of unregulated whaling, called 'bycatch', is becoming a growing threat to whales along the coastlines of Japan and South Korea. According to Scott Baker, associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University, DNA analysis of whale-meat products sold in Japanese markets suggests that the number of whales actually killed through this "bycatch whaling" may be equal to that killed through Japan's scientific whaling program - about 150 annually from each source.

June 22nd, 2009 Whaling talks said stuck on compromise dealLISBON, Portugal — The International Whaling Commission on Monday began discussing a possible compromise deal that would reduce the number of whales killed each year. However, environmental groups expressed little hope of a breakthrough in the two-decade dispute at the start of IWC's weeklong annual meeting in Portugal's Madeira islands.

June 18th, 2009 Australia, NZ to study Antarctic whalesWELLINGTON, New Zealand — Australia and New Zealand announced Thursday a non-lethal whale research expedition to the Antarctic, a direct challenge to Japan's research program that kills up to 1,000 whales a year. The six-week expedition, to set sail in a New Zealand ship early next year, will prove that whales can be studied without killing them, the two governments said in a joint statement.

June 1st, 2009 LONDON - In a new research, scientists have discovered that there are babysitters in whale populations as well, which look after the young ones of mother whales while they go hunt for food. According to a report in New Scientist, Shane Gero of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, and colleagues tracked two populations of sperm whales in the Caribbean and Sargasso seas to see what happened when mother whales dived for food.

May 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Acoustic experts confirmed tracking a singing blue whale 112 km off the Long Island and New York City early this year, even as the second one was heard singing in the far distance. These endangered blue whales are the largest animals ever to have lived on this planet, and their voices can travel across an ocean.

April 9th, 2009 LONDON - Noisy neighbours have made the lives of more than a third of Britons miserable, a new survey has found. According to the survey by insulation manufacturer Rockwool, loud music and televisions are the biggest causes of disturbance while other irritants for neighbours include parties, children and wooden floors.