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Oceans are being blasted every 10 seconds and it's killing marine life. Click here to tell Secretary of the Interior to put a stop to seismic testing and save the whales.
Friend,
Imagine a sound eight times louder than a jet engine going off in your home. Now imagine it going off again. And again. And again every 10 seconds. Every day. Every night. -- This is the reality for marine life near the oil industry's seismic surveying sites.
To find fossil fuels buried deep below the sea floor, the oil and gas industry trawls the ocean with powerful airguns. These cannons sound off every 10 to 12 seconds, recording the acoustic vibrations that bounce back as a way to map the sea bottom.
But seismic testing for oil creates what biologists call an "acoustic smog" that drowns out whale chatter and interferes with the way marine mammals perceive the world. Over time, animals that rely on sonar and listening to 'see' can go blind and can't function properly. For animals like whales and dolphins that use sound to eat, hunt, find mates, navigate and communicate with their young families, these sonic booms are incredibly dangerous.1
Fortunately, the Department of the Interior can do something about it. By banning seismic testing in and around known marine mammal habitats, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell can reduce acoustic smog and protect our wild oceans. Click here to protect marine life, stop new oil exploration and prevent another oil spill: Tell Sec. Sally Jewell to stop off-shore seismic surveys.
These seismic airguns use compressed air to generate intense pulses of sound every ten seconds, often for weeks on end. They are so loud that they penetrate through the ocean and miles into the seafloor, then bounce back, bringing information to the surface about location of oil and gas deposits underneath the seafloor.2
Big Oil is pushing to open new sections of our coastline - from the Atlantic to the Arctic. That means that testing could be coming soon to a lot more states -- including beaches all along the Atlantic coast, and previously un-drilled sections of California too. Unless we raise our voices and stop it, the expanded use of seismic airguns could devastate marine life, harming fisheries and coastal economies.3 Click here to press the mute button on seismic testing.
Thank you for everything you do,
Sally and the Save the Whales Team at Environmental Action
1.‘Carberry-Cornell. Acoustic smog’ drowns out whale chatter. Futurity. August 17, 2012
2. Bryce, Emma. Will Seismic Blasts Upend Atlantic Marine Life? The New York Times. October 11, 2012.
3. Calloway Whiting, Candace. Terrifying and Destructive to Whales and Dolphins: A Glimpse Into the Reality of Seismic Exploration. The Huffington Post. September 12, 2013. |
