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Whales Stoic In Seismic Study

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The Associated Press

Published: August 22, 2008

HOUSTON - Powerful acoustic devices used by oil companies searching for new sources of hydrocarbons in the Gulf of Mexico have had no discernible effect on endangered sperm whales living in those waters, according to a federally funded study released Thursday.

The six-year, $9.3 million study examined the effect of offshore seismic activity, which involves firing air guns into the water, on the Gulf's sperm whale population, estimated to be around 1,600.

Most of the whales live in the northern Gulf, often in areas heavy with exploration and production operations.

"The two are not mutually exclusive," said Randall Luthi, director of the U.S. Minerals Management Service, which oversees E&P activities in federal waters and which funded the study. "That's the kind of knowledge we need to have."

Fifteen federal and state agencies, universities and other organizations collaborated on the study, which sought to establish baseline information about the whales' biology and behavior.

It also sought to determine the effect of man-made noise like seismic probes for subsea oil and natural gas. Powerful air guns are fired from specially equipped boats, though federal guidelines restrict crews from using the acoustic equipment if they spot a whale within one-third of a mile from the vessel.

The technology is used to determine the geologic makeup of the seabed.

"The bottom line is that air-gun noise from seismic surveys that are thousands of yards distant does not drive away sperm whales living in the Gulf," said Doug Biggs, a professor of oceanography at Texas A&M University and a study participant.

However, Biggs said some whales, when diving deep into the Gulf to eat, reduced the rate at which they searched for prey when scientists carried out controlled seismic experiments. Biggs and others acknowledged the whales have been exposed to such noise for several decades, so it's impossible to say how they behaved before the oil companies arrived.

The study involved a sample of 98 tagged sperm whales, the species Herman Melville wrote of in "Moby-Dick."

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