美国国家公共电台 NPR Seismic Surveys Planned Off U.S. Coast Pose Risk To Marine Life

 

(SOUNDBITE OF WHALE CALL)

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Many animals that live in the ocean communicate with sound, like this humpback whale.

(SOUNDBITE OF WHALE CALL)

SHAPIRO: But these voices could soon be drowned out by powerful sonic booms set off in the ocean by energy companies. The Trump¹ administration is opening up the Atlantic coast to oil and gas exploration. Biologists say just the process of looking for undersea reservoirs could threaten ocean life, as NPR's Christopher Joyce reports.

CHRISTOPHER JOYCE, BYLINE²: There's a human-made sound that dwarfs³ all others in the ocean - the boom of seismic⁴ air guns.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOOM)

JOYCE: Five companies plan to use air guns to survey thousands of miles of seabed along the Atlantic coast. That could start later this year. The air guns are towed behind the ship. They compress and then release air explosively, and the sound waves penetrate⁵ the seabed to reveal reservoirs of oil and gas. Ships have to turn them off if they see whales or other marine⁶ mammals nearby. The sound blasts can damage the ears and internal organs of animals. But scientists are increasingly concerned about less obvious effects of air guns well outside the immediate⁷ danger zone. Aaron Thode is an oceanographer who studied the effects of air guns.

AARON THODE: We don't know what would happen if animals were exposed constantly to sound over long periods of time in, say, a feeding area, a breeding area or whatnot.

JOYCE: Thode works at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He says whales have been observed retreating from the sound of air guns. That could cause them to abandon breeding or feeding grounds. Thode has also discovered that bowhead whales start calling more often to each other when there's air gun noise, at least for a while.

THODE: At some point, you know, just as if a jet plane passes overhead, you'll just kind of give up and wait for the sounds to decrease.

JOYCE: Whales and dolphins and even fish signal each other with sound. Marine biologist Doug Nowacek at Duke University worries that air guns could overwhelm that communication that could cause a mother, for example, to lose its calf⁸.

DOUG NOWACEK: So if they get separated by a few tens or hundreds of meters in an increasingly loud ocean, you can consider it gone.

JOYCE: Nowacek says new evidence shows animals can be a long way from the air guns and still be affected⁹.

NOWACEK: The levels that could still have and do have behavioral impacts extend out tens to hundreds of miles away from those surveys.

JOYCE: And effects on smaller animals are emerging as well. Research in Australia shows that air guns can actually kill shrimp-like plankton¹⁰. Moreover, the sound is pervasive¹¹. Surveyors fire the air guns several times a minute for months at a time. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke described the energy plan at a press conference last January. He promised that the government will protect the environment.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

RYAN ZINKE: We do it right. And we're not going to skirt protections. We're not going to give anyone a pass. We're going to hold corporations accountable.

JOYCE: The Interior Department completed an environmental impact study on seismic surveying in 2014. It says the effects on marine life will be moderate at worst. They point out that surveyors will stop their work if they see or hear whales within 500 yards and will keep away from places they're known to frequent. But more than 70 scientists have written to President Trump asking him to cancel the surveys anyway. They note that the blasting covers regions populated by several kinds of whales that are in danger of extinction¹². Doug Nowacek is one of those scientists.

NOWACEK: There are numerous species off the Atlantic coast that have never been - we don't have any data whatsoever¹³ about their response to seismic.

JOYCE: The Interior Department is expected to rule on the surveying permits in the next few weeks. Environmental and other interest groups are preparing to legally challenge any permit to allow seismic testing. Christopher Joyce, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF ED SHEERAN SONG, "I SEE FIRE (KYGO REMIX)")

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 dwarfs   

n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Shakespeare dwarfs other dramatists. 莎士比亚使其他剧作家相形见绌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The new building dwarfs all the other buildings in the town. 新大楼使城里所有其他建筑物都显得矮小了。 来自辞典例句

4 seismic   

a.地震的，地震强度的

参考例句：

• Earthquakes produce two types of seismic waves.地震产生两种地震波。
• The latest seismic activity was also felt in northern Kenya.肯尼亚北部也感觉到了最近的地震活动。

5 penetrate   

v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解

参考例句：

• Western ideas penetrate slowly through the East.西方观念逐渐传入东方。
• The sunshine could not penetrate where the trees were thickest.阳光不能透入树木最浓密的地方。

6 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

7 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

8 calf   

n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮

参考例句：

• The cow slinked its calf.那头母牛早产了一头小牛犊。
• The calf blared for its mother.牛犊哞哞地高声叫喊找妈妈。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

10 plankton   

n.浮游生物

参考例句：

• Plankton is at the bottom of the marine food chain.浮游生物处于海洋食物链的最底层。
• The plankton in the sea feeds many kinds of animals. 海的浮游生物成为很多种动物的食物。

11 pervasive   

adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的

参考例句：

• It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
• The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的，并且难以估算。

12 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

13 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。