‘Noise drowning out sea creatures’

Paratene won fame for his role as the grandfather in the 2002 film directed by Niki Caro.

“We go to the seaside because we think it’s a place of tranquility. But the reality is that the oceans are in trouble,” he says.

Paratene is publicizing his latest film project on ocean noise pollution and its impact on sea creatures at the 10th Festival of Pacific Arts in American Samoa.

He says the ancestors of Pacific islanders knew that sea creatures use sound to navigate and locate food and mates, as well as to communicate with each other. He recalls going to the sea as a child with his grandmother and other female elders to gather shellfish at low tide.

“We were taught to move about quietly so as not to upset Tangaroa (Maori god of the sea). Other times, we would be encouraged to beat the water with sticks and deliberately make a ruckus so the fish would become confused and be easily herded into our waiting nets.”

It has long been understood in the Pacific that noise moves further and faster through water than air, Paratene says. “During our ancestors’ times, the ocean was free of noise pollution and communication lines were clear.”

He said this knowledge was important to ancestral navigators because the migratory patterns of whales offered indicators or signposts on the ocean’s highways.

The three main contributors to noise pollution are shipping traffic, seismic exploration for oil and minerals under the sea, and military use of sonar, he says.

In the last 50 years, the noise from shipping traffic has become so loud that it masks natural sounds. Such noise could cause sea animals such as whales and dolphins to move to quieter places.

Until now the problem has been concentrated around Europe, America and parts of Asia. However, with the emergence of economic powers such as China and India, shipping traffic across the Pacific is increasing at an alarming rate, he says.

Worse than the shipping noise, is noise caused by seismic detonations. “With terrestrial mineral and oil deposits running low, people are turning to the ocean and using seismic blasts, which are deafening. They block out all other ocean noise including shipping noise.”

The actor says he first became interested in the issue when he heard about RIMPAC military exercises in Hawaii. The navies of the United States and its allies from Pacific Rim countries get together every two years for RIMPAC, which is the world’s largest international maritime exercise.

“The navy’s use of sonar to detect enemy submarines has been linked to mass strandings of whales. The symptoms are unmistakable—several different species stranded over wide areas with bleeding eyes and brain hemorrhaging.”

Paratene says the people of Oceania must take action as they are the guardians of the Pacific. “A united Pacific voice is a voice that cannot be denied.” [B][I](SPC)[/I][/B]