Image: Woods Hole Science Center
The price we pay for using seismic airguns to search for oil and gas under the ocean floor is the stunning, or death, of ocean life. When do we finally say no? As Oceana reports:
"Seismic airguns are towed behind ships and shoot loud blasts of compressed air through the water and miles into the seabed, which reflect back information about buried oil and gas deposits. These blasts harm marine mammals, sea turtles, fish and other wildlife.
Impacts include temporary and permanent hearing loss, abandonment of habitat, disruption of mating and feeding, and even beach strandings and death. For whales and dolphins, which rely on their hearing to find food, communicate, and reproduce, being able to hear is a life or death matter."