Spike in beluga deaths, are Quebec's noisy rivers to blame?

Wednesday, August 3, 2016, 12:37 PM - A recent spike in beluga whale deaths is being linked to noise pollution in Quebec's rivers.

Researchers associated with Tadoussac's Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals (GREMM) are spending the summer researching the cause of the recent spike in whale deaths.

Of the 14 carcasses found in 2015, six were newborn calves and three were pregnant, the CBC reports. The year before, 11 carcasses were found, six of which were also babies. And in 2013, of the 17 carcasses found four were babies.

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These findings are the grounds for GREMM's theory, which explores the possibility that Quebec's loud Saguenay River is too noisy to belugas to communicate with each other, which results in calves and mothers getting separated, jeopardizing their ability to survive.

Ferries, ships, and boats in the Saguenay and St. Lawrence rivers are potential culprits, as researchers are basing their findings on the theory that beluga calves have soft calls which can be easily overpowered, the CBC reports.

According to Peter Scheifele, a professor at the University of Connecticut, the amount of sound boats generate is harmful even for humans.

"In fact, the noise of boat motors in certain areas of the St. Lawrence is so loud that, if humans were exposed to the same sound levels, they would be required to wear safety equipment," Scheifele wrote in a 1998 article.

According to the director of GREMM's marine research group, Cacouna -- roughly 200 km north of Quebec City -- has seen an increase in traffic which could explain the impact on mothers and their calves, the CBC reports.

Through the use of drones and underwater microphones, GREMM will be investigating the context in which calves call out, and how much those calls are muffled by marine transportation.

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Thumbnail image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

SOURCE: CBC