October 6th, 2016 — A new study of Britain’s seas is attempting to determine whether man-made aquatic noise is affecting the communication and breeding of cod.
Led by Steve Simpson, associate professor in marine biology and global change at the University of Exeter, the study will look at how unnatural noise — from shipping, wind farm construction, and oil and gas drilling — has affected the reproductive behavior of fish.
Cod and haddock, for instance, are known to use certain sounds to attract mates.
“We’re interested in whether the human noise we’re making is drowning this out,” Simpson said.
Additionally, the two-year study will seek to determine whether fish — not unlike killer whales and songbirds — have “regional accents,” or mating calls particular to certain areas. Climate change has sent some fish migrating north in search of cooler waters, and the result could be a sort of underwater language barrier, according to the British scientists. (On this side of the Atlantic, warming waters have coincided with a dramatic drop in cod stocks.)