Marie Roch Presentation
After viewing Dr. Roch's presentation consider the information you learned about cetaceans (whales & dolphins) and respond to the following question.
How important is it to evaluate the effect of navy sonar on marine life? Exlpain.
Does the value of what the Navy is doing outweigh the effect on cetaceans? Explain your answer.
It is important to analyze the effect Navy sonar has on marine because we don't know the effect. There is not enough information to know if using sonar has bad effects on the marine life. Sonar could cause a lot of damage on the marine ecosystem, such as confusing marine life like dophlins and whales that depend on sonar. If they become confuse some fatalties could include driving cetaceans away from our waters. This could end up changing delicate balance of the marine food chain. Another possible result is that cetaceans could be confused by the sonar which could lead to different behavior between them. All this information is still not know, thus by doing the reasearch we can learn if sonar has any bad effects or not.
The effect of sonar on marine life is very vaulable for the planet and if any harm is done to them it runs the risk of losing them. The navy has the resources to be able to find alternatives to sonar while marine life rely on sonar life to live.
It is very important to evaluate the effect navy sonar effects marine life for two reasons. If the result is that sonar is affecting marine life in a negative manner, we must do all that we can to solve the issue immediately. However, if we come to the result that it does not affect marine life, then we can increase our navy sonar, thus making our country stronger.
In the end, it will not outweigh the effect it has on marine life, but for short term issues, it may if the damage is not too great of course.
Although the motives behind what the navy is doing are in the safety of our country it is also important to know the effects of sonar on the marine life. Scientist may not exactly know the affect of sonar on these animals yet, but one thing is for sure one must take into account the fact that we are introducing a potentially harmful form of research into their environment. As Professor Marie Roch mentioned, scientist do have their speculations as to what sonar’s is doing to animals’ communication ability. These animals are unable to communicate with each other because of the sonar's interference, which can sometimes lead to their death. As seen whales have beached themselves and have gotten separated from their packs. This may seem as a small price to pay for our national security, but that does not give us the right to destroy their home. Instead, scientist can find other means of researching until we know the definite affects of sonar on these animals.
I thought it was a very impersive presentation, because I didn’t really know anything about the effects of sonar. And, now that I know what it is, it shouldn’t be used because of the effects it has on the marine life enviornement. I believe that there should be a lot more information of sonar and the effects it has. The Navy should also be told about how they are “causing” problems to the marine ecosystem; im pretty sure they could think of alternatives.
It is important to evaluate the effect of navy sonar on marine life because since we know so little about it, we must determine all the beneficial and detrimental affects it has on marine life so that we may enhance or reduce sonar activity as necessary. Although the U.S. Navy is doing this in order to increase safety of our country, I do not believe it outweighs the effects on cetaceans, especially because we do not completely know the effects of sonar activity. With all these mysteries in consideration, for once, what we do not know just may hurt us (or cetaceans in this case.) It may interfere with their communication system, simultaneously throwing off their mating systems and survival in general.
Studying the effect of navy sonar on marine life is crucial as how great the negative aspects are still unknown. I agree with my fellow colleague Ariana that the sonar could tip the crucial balance of the food chain, thus affecting not only sea life but all animals that feed on sea life, humans included. Looking at the problem with a physics point of view, sound travels about 5 times faster in water than in air due to the water molecules being denser (however I’ll spare the science lesson). Not only do the sound waves travel faster but they can travel much greater distances affecting a wider range of marine life.
The navy takes precedence over the marine life; although with proper care not to involve them while breeding/migration and stay away from large groups. Without sonar the navy would have limited resources and vision in the ocean. Marine life has been able to evolve and adapt to their environment for (I don’t know the exact amount, nor do I wish to make one up so I’ll say) for a very long time, if there was a better alternative to surviving in the sea, I’m sure animals would have adapted. Also anyone recall “the day that will live in infamy”? Ignoring any conspiracy theories, with greater sonar capabilities the attack theoretically speaking should have never have had that much success.
Evalutating the effects of sonar on the marine ecosystem is incredibly important for the following reasons: The Navy will refuse to switch to another method of detection simply because sonar is the most efficient. The Navy has agreed to look into the matter of the effects of sonar on marine life, and if deemed catastrophic, have agreed to stop their use of sonar. Also, if the studies ofeffects of sonar on marine life had gone ignored, we might've dealed incredible damage to marine life, and by the time we began realizing its effects, it might be too late.
In no way does the value of what the Navy is doing outweigh marine life. We cannot sacrifice such diverse life in the ocean for some method of detection. The Navy can use other tools to replace sonar, it might be a challenge, but I'd rather sacrifice sonar, than sacrifice all of marine life. If marine life were to be harmed, the damage done would revert to us ten fold. We would lose a source of nutrition, and it would create a great inbalance in the food chain.