Mumbai: Sound of ships results in death of marine mammals, reveals study

Death of marine mammals and their carcasses landing on the beaches of Mumbai has been an alarming concern in recent times. However, the enigma behind such occurences remained unsolved.

Now a new research conducted by the Maritime Research Centre at the Indian Maritime Foundation, Pune, provides new insights revealing that noise from ships, cargo vessels and trawlers is likely to be one of the main reasons why marine mammals end up on the beaches and die.

The report, titled Impact of Maritime Security Policies on Marine Ecosystem, studied the cases where dolphins and porpoises lost their way as sound from ships and vessels disrupted their communication patterns.

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Ships using sonar technology, seismic surveys, and the sound of various machines used by ships and vessels are cited as three main sources of noise pollution in the study.

The west coast accounts for nearly 65 percent of the traffic of nearly 30,000 large ships and vessels that travel along the Indian coastline every year, as per Maharashtra Maritime Board.