January 31, 2017 — The sonic tests used to map the ocean floor in order to explore for oil and gas is scaring fish away from reefs, according to a first-of-its-kind study released by a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher.
Avery Paxton, a marine ecologist with UNC’s Institute for Marine Sciences, has for two years been studying the effects of loud manmade noises on fish in the ocean.
“These noises, on the reef, they’re repetitive,” Paxton said. “The sound levels on the reef that were heard by these fishes were loud enough that, in laboratory experiments, fish did have physiological damage.”