Peter Tyack: The intriguing sound of marine mammals

譯者: Geoff Chen 審譯者: chufung dou

Thank you so much. I'm going to try to take you

非常感謝。我要帶大家進入一段

on a journey of the underwater acoustic world

鯨魚和海豚的

of whales and dolphins.

水下聲音世界

Since we are such a visual species,

由於我們多依賴視覺，

it's hard for us to really understand this,

所以，要真正理解這些有點難度

so I'll use a mixture of figures and sounds

因此我會結合圖表與聲音 來說明

and hope this can communicate it.

希望這樣能把我想要表達的傳達給大家

But let's also think, as a visual species,

但讓我們也思考一下，作為擁有視覺的物種，

what it's like when we go snorkeling or diving

當我們浮潛或潛水時，

and try to look underwater.

看看水下的世界時，它是什麼樣的？

We really can't see very far.

其實我們看不了多遠

Our vision, which works so well in air,

在地表上我們的視覺良好

all of a sudden is very restricted and claustrophobic.

但突然間 我們會在水下受到嚴重的限制與幽閉

And what marine mammals have evolved

而海洋哺乳動物

over the last tens of millions of years

經過了近數千萬年來的進化後，

is ways to depend on sound

牠們依賴聲音

to both explore their world

探索周圍的世界

and also to stay in touch with one another.

並與其他同類保持聯繫

Dolphins and toothed whales use echolocation.

海豚和齒鯨使用回聲定位

They can produce loud clicks

牠們能產生響亮的喀喇聲

and listen for echoes from the sea floor in order to orient.

並傾聽海底反射的回聲來定位

They can listen for echoes from prey

牠們能通過獵物所反射的回聲

in order to decide where food is

來確定牠們的食物在哪里，

and to decide which one they want to eat.

並決定要吃什麽

All marine mammals use sound for communication to stay in touch.

所有海洋哺乳動物用聲音來保持相互聯繫

So the large baleen whales

於是大型鬚鯨

will produce long, beautiful songs,

能發出悠長美麗的歌聲，

which are used in reproductive advertisement

這種歌聲被雌鯨和雄鯨用於尋求伴侶，

for male and females, both to find one another

幫助牠們找到同類，

and to select a mate.

並且選擇配偶

And mother and young and closely bonded animals

呼叫的聲音也被用於母子之間的聯繫，

use calls to stay in touch with one another,

或者在聯繫緊密的動物之間保持聯繫

so sound is really critical for their lives.

因此，聲音在牠們的生活中是非常重要的

The first thing that got me interested in the sounds

第一個引起我對這些海底動物的

of these underwater animals,

聲音興趣的是，

whose world was so foreign to me,

這對我來說是個陌生的世界

was evidence from captive dolphins

從捕獲的海豚中 所發現的證據表示：

that captive dolphins could imitate human sounds.

牠們能模仿人類的聲音

And I mentioned I'll use

我說我會使用

some visual representations of sounds.

一些聲音的視覺化圖像

Here's the first example.

這是第一個例子

This is a plot of frequency against time --

這是幅頻率對時間的圖表--

sort of like musical notation,

有點像音符，

where the higher notes are up higher and the lower notes are lower,

高處的標記表示頻率較高，低處的標記表示頻率較低，

and time goes this way.

時間朝這個方向流逝

This is a picture of a trainer's whistle,

這張圖表示教練的哨聲，

a whistle a trainer will blow to tell a dolphin

這哨聲是教練用來告訴海豚

it's done the right thing and can come get a fish.

做對了 就能得到一條魚。

It sounds sort of like "tweeeeeet." Like that.

它聽起來有點像 “tweeeeeet”。有點像這樣。

This is a calf in captivity

這是一隻人工飼養的小海豚

making an imitation

模仿的

of that trainer's whistle.

教練的哨聲

If you hummed this tune to your dog or cat

現在如果你對這你的貓貓或狗狗哼這個曲子，

and it hummed it back to you,

而牠也對著你哼這曲子，

you ought to be pretty surprised.

你應該會大吃一驚。

Very few nonhuman mammals

很少有除人類之外的哺乳動物

can imitate sounds.

能模仿聲音

It's really important for our music and our language.

這種能力對我們學習音樂和語言十分重要。

So it's a puzzle: The few other mammal groups that do this,

因此這讓人迷惑：少有其他哺乳動物能做到這點，

why do they do it?

為什麼牠們能做到這點？

A lot of my career has been devoted

我職業生涯中花了很多時間

to trying to understand

試圖弄明白

how these animals use their learning,

這些哺乳動物如何運用牠們的學習能力

use the ability to change what you say

運用此一能力：

based on what you hear

基於所聽到的改變所說的。

in their own communication systems.

這些都在牠們自己的溝通系統中

So let's start with calls of a nonhuman primate.

那麼讓我們從非人靈長類的叫聲開始

Many mammals have to produce contact calls

許多哺乳動物會發出呼喚聲

when, say, a mother and calf are apart.

比如說，當母親和幼兒分開時

This is an example of a call produced by squirrel monkeys

這是一個例子：這是松鼠猴

when they're isolated from another one.

與其他同類分開時所發出的叫聲。

And you can see, there's not much

如你們所見，在這些叫聲中

variability in these calls.

沒有多少變化

By contrast, the signature whistle

相對地，海豚用於

which dolphins use to stay in touch,

保持聯繫的哨聲，

each individual here has a radically different call.

每一隻海豚都有完全不同的聲調

They can use this ability to learn calls

牠們用這種能力來學習叫聲，

in order to develop more complicated and more distinctive calls

以便能發展出更複雜、更獨特的聲納

to identify individuals.

來辨別不同的個體

How about the setting in which animals need to use this call?

在怎樣的環境下 動物必須使用這種叫聲？

Well let's look at mothers and calves.

好，讓我們看看母親和幼海豚

In normal life for mother and calf dolphin,

在海豚媽媽和海豚幼兒平常的生活中，

they'll often drift apart or swim apart if Mom is chasing a fish,

如果海豚媽媽去抓魚，牠們經常因為漂移或是游泳而分開

and when they separate

當牠們分開時

they have to get back together again.

必須重新聚在一起

What this figure shows is the percentage of the separations

這張圖顯示，牠們分開時

in which dolphins whistle,

海豚發出哨聲的百分比，

against the maximum distance.

與此相對的是最遠距離

So when dolphins are separating by less than 20 meters,

因此，當海豚分隔少於 20 公尺時，

less than half the time they need to use whistles.

低於半數的情況下，牠們需要用到哨聲

Most of the time they can just find each other

大多數時間，牠們四處遊動

just by swimming around.

就能找到對方

But all of the time when they separate by more than 100 meters,

然而一旦牠們分開超過100公尺，

they need to use these individually distinctive whistles

牠們就需要使用這些各自獨特的哨聲

to come back together again.

再次聚在一塊。

Most of these distinctive signature whistles

多數這類帶有獨特個別特徵的哨聲

are quite stereotyped and stable

在海豚的一生中

through the life of a dolphin.

都是定型的、而且非常穩定

But there are some exceptions.

但也有些例外

When a male dolphin leaves Mom,

當雄海豚離開海豚媽媽時，

it will often join up with another male

牠通常會聯合另一隻雄海豚

and form an alliance, which may last for decades.

形成一個聯盟，這一聯盟可能會持續幾十年之久

As these two animals form a social bond,

由於這兩隻動物形成了一條社會紐帶，

their distinctive whistles actually converge

牠們獨特的哨聲實際上會進行融合

and become very similar.

變得非常相似

This plot shows two members of a pair.

這張圖顯示了組合中的兩個成員，

As you can see at the top here,

正如你們於頂部所看到的，

they share an up-sweep, like "woop, woop, woop."

牠們有著同樣的上升調，像“woop，woop，woop“

They both have that kind of up-sweep.

牠們都有這樣的上升調

Whereas these members of a pair go "wo-ot, wo-ot, wo-ot."

然而，另一對成員擁有的上升調是”wo-ot, wo-ot, wo-ot“

And what's happened is

這是由於：

they've used this learning process

牠們運用此一學習過程

to develop a new sign that identifies this new social group.

發展出識別新社會群體的新信號

It's a very interesting way that they can

這是非常有趣的方式，牠們可以

form a new identifier

為新的社會群體

for the new social group that they've had.

形塑一個新的識別標誌

Let's now take a step back

現在讓我們退後一步

and see what this message can tell us

看看這訊息能告訴我們些什麼

about protecting dolphins

關於保護海豚

from human disturbance.

遠離人類干擾的資訊

Anybody looking at this picture

任何看到這張圖片的人都知道

will know this dolphin is surrounded,

這隻海豚被包圍了，

and clearly his behavior is being disrupted.

顯然牠的行為被打亂了。

This is a bad situation.

這是個糟糕的情況。

But it turns out that when just a single boat

但事實表明，

is approaching a group of dolphins

當僅有一艘船在數百公尺外

at a couple hundred meters away,

靠近一群海豚時，

the dolphins will start whistling,

這些海豚會開始發出哨聲，

they'll change what they're doing, they'll have a more cohesive group,

牠們會放棄正在做的事，聚集成更大的群體，

wait for the boat to go by,

等待這艘船駛過，

and then they'll get back to normal business.

然後回復正常

Well, in a place like Sarasota, Florida,

嗯，在一個佛羅里達州 Sarasota 的地方，

the average interval between times

一艘船在百公尺之內

that a boat is passing within a hundred meters of a dolphin group

駛過一群海豚的 平均間隔時間

is six minutes.

是六分鐘

So even in the situation that doesn't look as bad as this,

因此，即使在看起來不像這麼糟糕的情形下，

it's still affecting the amount of time these animals have

在多數時刻，仍然會對這些動物的

to do their normal work.

正常生活造成影響

And if we look at a very pristine environment like western Australia,

讓我們看看像澳洲西部這樣一個非常原始的環境，

Lars Bider has done work

Lars Bider 曾經

comparing dolphin behavior and distribution

比較了賞海豚的遊船產生之前和之後，

before there were dolphin-watching boats.

當地海豚的行為與分佈

When there was one boat, not much of an impact.

當只有一艘船時，對牠們的影響不大

And two boats: When the second boat was added,

兩艘船時，當第二艘船駛來時，

what happened was that some of the dolphins

有些海豚

left the area completely.

完全離開了這一區域

Of the ones that stayed, their reproductive rate declined.

留下的那些海豚的繁殖率下降了

So it could have a negative impact on the whole population.

因此，這可能對整個群體數量產生負面影響

When we think of marine-protected areas for animals like dolphins,

當我們考慮動物比如海豚建立海洋保護區時，

this means that we have to be

這意味著我們也要

quite conscious about activities that we thought were benign.

非常慎重地考慮那些我們認為無礙的活動

We may need to regulate the intensity

我們也許需要控制

of recreational boating and actual whale watching

遊船的密度，甚至賞鯨船的密度，

in order to prevent these kinds of problems.

以防類似問題的發生

I'd also like to point out that sound

同樣，我想指出那些

doesn't obey boundaries.

沒有辦法設置防線的因素：聲音

So you can draw a line to try to protect an area,

你可以畫一條線，試圖保護一個區域，

but chemical pollution and noise pollution

但是化學污染和噪音污染

will continue to move through the area.

將不斷進入這一區域。

And I'd like to switch now from this local,

現在，我想從這種地方性的、

familiar, coastal environment

為人熟知的沿海環境轉換至

to a much broader world of the baleen whales and the open ocean.

鬚鯨的更廣闊的大海

This is a kind of map we've all been looking at.

我們經常看到這類地圖

The world is mostly blue.

世界大部分是藍色的

But I'd also like to point out that the oceans

但我還想指出的是，海洋之間的

are much more connected than we think.

聯繫地比我們所想像的更加緊密。

Notice how few barriers there are to movement

請注意，相較於陸地而言，對海洋間的

across all of the oceans compared to land.

運動的阻礙非常的少。

To me, the most mind-bending example

對我來說，最令人驚訝的海洋間

of the interconnectedness of the ocean

的相互聯繫的例子

comes from an acoustic experiment

來自一個海洋學家所做的

where oceanographers

聲音實驗，

took a ship to the southern Indian Ocean,

實驗中，海洋學家行駛至南印度洋，

deployed an underwater loudspeaker

放置一個水下揚聲器

and played back a sound.

並不斷播放一個聲音。

That same sound

同一段聲音

traveled to the west, and could be heard in Bermuda,

向西能傳播至百慕達群島，

and traveled to the east, and could be heard in Monterey --

向東能傳播至蒙特雷（Monterey）--

the same sound.

同一段聲音。

So we live in a world of satellite communication,

雖然我們生活在一個衛星通信的世界裏，

are used to global communication,

早已習慣了全球間的溝通，

but it's still amazing to me.

但我仍然感到驚訝

The ocean has properties

海洋擁有了，基本上

that allow low-frequency sound

能讓低頻聲音

to basically move globally.

傳遍全球的特性。

The acoustic transit time for each of these paths is about three hours.

聲音通過這些途徑中的每一條進行傳播所需的時間大約是三小時。

It's nearly halfway around the globe.

這幾乎穿越了半個地球。

In the early '70s,

在70年代早期，

Roger Payne and an ocean acoustician

一名海洋聲學家，Roger Payne

published a theoretical paper

曾發表過一篇學術論文，

pointing out that it was possible

論文中指出

that sound could transmit over these large areas,

聲音能夠在大範圍內傳播，

but very few biologists believed it.

但少有生物學家相信這點。

It actually turns out, though,

事實上，

even though we've only known of long-range propagation for a few decades,

雖然我們近幾十年來才對這種遠距離傳播有所瞭解，

the whales clearly have evolved,

而鯨魚顯然在數千萬年之前就已經

over tens of millions of years,

進行了進化，

a way to exploit this amazing property of the ocean.

進化出一種方法來運用海洋的這種驚奇特性，

So blue whales and fin whales

藍鯨和長鬚鯨

produce very low-frequency sounds

產生一種頻率非常低的聲音，

that can travel over very long ranges.

這種聲音能傳播很長的距離，

The top plot here shows

上面這幅圖顯示

a complicated series of calls

雄鯨所重複的

that are repeated by males.

一系列複雜的叫聲。

They form songs, and they appear to play a role in reproduction,

這些叫聲形成歌聲，並且似乎能在繁殖中發揮作用，

sort of like that of song birds.

有點類似鳥類的啼聲。

Down below here, we see calls made by both males and females

下面這幅圖，我們看到 無論是雄性還是雌性發出的叫聲

that also carry over very long ranges.

都能傳播很遠的距離。

The biologists continued to be skeptical

生物學家在70年代

of the long-range communication issue

持續地懷疑

well past the '70s,

遠距離溝通的問題，

until the end of the Cold War.

直到冷戰結束為止。

What happened was, during the Cold War,

冷戰期間，美國海軍

the U.S. Navy had a system that was secret at the time,

開發出一套在當時處於保密的系統，

that they used to track Russian submarines.

這套系統能夠探測俄國潛艇，

It had deep underwater microphones, or hydrophones,

它有一個深水麥克風，或者說，一個水下測音器，

cabled to shore,

水下測音器用纜線連接至海岸，

all wired back to a central place that could listen

所有纜線連接至一個中心，在那兒能監聽

to sounds over the whole North Atlantic.

所有穿過整個北大西洋的聲音。

And after the Berlin Wall fell, the Navy made these systems available

在柏林牆倒塌之後，海軍允許鯨生物聲學家

to whale bio-acousticians

使用這些系統

to see what they could hear.

看看他·們能聽到些什麼。

This is a plot from Christopher Clark

這幅圖來自Christopher Clark，

who tracked one individual blue whale

他在一條藍鯨

as it passed by Bermuda,

經過百慕達時，跟蹤牠，

went down to the latitude of Miami and came back again.

牠游至邁阿密同一緯度時，開始往回游，

It was tracked for 43 days,

牠被跟蹤了43天，

swimming 1,700 kilometers,

游了1700公里，

or more than 1,000 miles.

或者說超過1000英里。

This shows us both that the calls

這告訴我們，這些叫聲

are detectable over hundreds of miles

能在數百英里外被探測出來，

and that whales routinely swim hundreds of miles.

這些鯨魚經常遊出數百英里遠。

They're ocean-based and scale animals

牠們是海洋大型動物，

who are communicating over much longer ranges

能夠以遠遠超出人們預期的距離

than we had anticipated.

進行溝通。

Unlike fins and blues, which

牠們與分佈在溫帶和熱帶的

disperse into the temperate and tropical oceans,

鬚鯨和藍鯨不同，

the humpbacked whales congregate

座頭鯨聚集於

in local traditional breeding grounds,

傳統繁殖地，

so they can make a sound that's a little higher in frequency,

因此牠們能發出頻率更高的聲音，

broader-band and more complicated.

音域更寬且更複雜。

So you're listening to the complicated song

你們現在聽到的是座頭鯨

produced by humpbacks here.

發出的複雜歌聲。

Humpbacks, when they develop

當座頭鯨發展出

the ability to sing this song,

這樣的歌聲能力時，

they're listening to other whales

牠們就能聽到來自其他鯨魚的聲音了，

and modifying what they sing based on what they're hearing,

並且基於牠們所聽到的來改變音調，

just like song birds or the dolphin whistles I described.

就像鳥的啼聲或我描述的海豚哨聲。

This means that humpback song

這表示了座頭鯨的歌聲

is a form of animal culture,

是動物文化的一種形式，

just like music for humans would be.

就像音樂對於人類一般。

I think one of the most interesting examples of this

我認為，關於這些最有趣的例子

comes from Australia.

來自澳洲。

Biologists on the east coast of Australia

生物學家在澳洲東海岸

were recording the songs of humpbacks in that area.

錄下了那一區域的座頭鯨的歌聲，

And this orange line here marks the typical songs

這條橘色的線顯示了東海岸座頭鯨

of east coast humpbacks.

的典型歌聲。

In '95 they all sang the normal song.

在1995年，牠們都唱出正常的歌聲。

But in '96 they heard a few weird songs,

但在1996年，生物學家聽到了少數奇怪的歌聲。

and it turned out that these strange songs

後來發現這些奇怪的歌聲

were typical of west coast whales.

是典型的西海岸鯨的歌聲。

The west coast calls became more and more popular,

西海岸的叫聲變得越來越常見，

until by 1998,

直到1998年，

none of the whales sang the east coast song; it was completely gone.

再也沒有鯨魚發出東海岸的歌聲，它完全消失了，

They just sang the cool new west coast song.

牠們都在唱著新的西海岸的酷歌。

It's as if some new hit style

這仿佛是一種新的風格

had completely wiped out

完全取代了

the old-fashioned style before,

之前舊的時尚風格，

and with no golden oldies stations.

而且沒有金曲再現這一檔事，

Nobody sang the old ones.

沒人想唱老歌了。

I'd like to briefly just show what the ocean does to these calls.

我想簡要的展示一下海洋中的這些叫聲，

Now you are listening to a recording made by Chris Clark,

現在大家聽到的是由 Chris Clark

0.2 miles away from a humpback.

在距離座頭鯨0.2英里遠處所錄製的聲音。

You can hear the full frequency range. It's quite loud.

你們能聽到整個音頻範圍內的聲音，非常響亮，

You sound very nearby.

聽起來就像在附近；

The next recording you're going to hear

下一段大家將聽到的錄音

was made of the same humpback song

是由同一頭座頭鯨

50 miles away.

在50英里外發出的。

That's shown down here.

下面顯示的這個，

You only hear the low frequencies.

只能聽到低頻的聲音，

You hear the reverberation

能聽到聲音

as the sound travels over long-range in the ocean

在海洋中長距離傳播產生的回聲

and is not quite as loud.

它聽起來並不響亮，

Now after I play back these humpback calls,

在我播放了這些座頭鯨的叫聲後，

I'll play blue whale calls, but they have to be sped up

我要播放一些藍鯨的叫聲，但我不得不加快這些聲音，

because they're so low in frequency

因為它們的頻率太低了，

that you wouldn't be able to hear it otherwise.

否則大家就聽不到它們了，

Here's a blue whale call at 50 miles,

這是50英里外一頭藍鯨的叫聲，

which was distant for the humpback.

比那頭座頭鯨更遠，

It's loud, clear -- you can hear it very clearly.

它清晰、響亮——你能非常清楚的聽到它，

Here's the same call recorded from a hydrophone

這是由水下測音器在500英里外錄製的

500 miles away.

同一叫聲。

There's a lot of noise, which is mostly other whales.

因為有許多其他鯨魚，聽起來有許多噪音，

But you can still hear that faint call.

但你仍能聽到這微弱的叫聲。

Let's now switch and think about

現在讓我們切換思路，考慮一下

a potential for human impacts.

潛在的人類影響。

The most dominant sound that humans put into the ocean

多數人類在海洋中產生的聲音

comes from shipping.

來自船隻，

This is the sound of a ship,

這是一艘船的聲音，

and I'm having to talk a little louder to talk over it.

為了蓋過它我不得不更大聲的說話。

Imagine that whale listening from 500 miles.

想像一下鯨在500英里遠處傾聽。

There's a potential problem that maybe

可能由這類船隻造成的這一

this kind of shipping noise would prevent whales

潛在問題 將會阻止鯨魚

from being able to hear each other.

聽到彼此。

Now this is something that's been known for quite a while.

這已經是個長久以來的問題了，

This is a figure from a textbook on underwater sound.

這是一張來自課本的關於水下聲音的圖：

And on the y-axis

Y軸代表

is the loudness of average ambient noise in the deep ocean

深海中以頻率表示的環境噪音

by frequency.

的平均音量；

In the low frequencies, this line indicates

在低頻時，這條線表明

sound that comes from seismic activity of the earth.

來自地球地震活動的聲音。

Up high, these variable lines

上面這些線

indicate increasing noise in this frequency range

表明在這一頻率範圍內由

from higher wind and wave.

風浪所增加的噪音；

But right in the middle here where there's a sweet spot,

但在正中間有一個平衡點，

the noise is dominated by human ships.

噪音主要來自人類的船隻。

Now think about it. This is an amazing thing:

現在考慮一點，這是個奇妙的事情。

That in this frequency range where whales communicate,

就在鯨魚用來交流的這個頻率範圍內，

the main source globally, on our planet, for the noise

在我們的星球上，全球主要的噪音來自

comes from human ships,

人類的船隻，

thousands of human ships, distant, far away,

數以千計遠處的人類船隻產生的噪音

just all aggregating.

全都彙集在一起。

The next slide will show what the impact this may have

下一張幻燈片顯示了

on the range at which whales can communicate.

這些噪音對鯨魚用於溝通的頻率範圍的可能影響。

So here we have the loudness of a call at the whale.

這是鯨的聲量，

And as we get farther away,

當我們離更遠時

the sound gets fainter and fainter.

聲音越來越微弱。

Now in the pre-industrial ocean, as we were mentioning,

在工業化前的海洋中，正如我們所提到的，

this whale call could be easily detected.

鯨魚的叫聲很容易被監聽到。

It's louder than noise

在一千公里範圍內

at a range of a thousand kilometers.

叫聲比噪音還要大；

Let's now take that additional increase in noise

現在，考慮到來自船隻

that we saw comes from shipping.

不斷增加的噪音，

All of a sudden, the effective range of communication

溝通的有效距離突然

goes from a thousand kilometers to 10 kilometers.

從一千公里降至十公里了，

Now if this signal is used for males and females

如果這些信號是用於雌性和雄性

to find each other for mating and they're dispersed,

為了交配而相互尋找的話，牠們被分隔開了，

imagine the impact this could have

想像一下這可能對瀕危族群的復育上

on the recovery of endangered populations.

所造成的影響。

Whales also have contact calls

我們也有我所描述過的

like I described for the dolphins.

海豚用於相互聯繫的叫聲

I'll play the sound of a contact call used

我要播放一段露脊鯨

by right whales to stay in touch.

用來保持聯繫的叫聲，

And this is the kind of call that is used by,

這是當露脊鯨母鯨與幼兒分離後，

say, right whale mothers and calves

當牠們想再次重聚時

as they separate to come back again.

相互呼喚的叫聲。

Now imagine -- let's put the ship noise in the picture.

現在，想像一下，如果在其中加入船隻的噪音，

What's a mother to do

如果船隻從旁經過，

if the ship comes by and her calf isn't there?

而牠的孩子並不在身旁，母鯨應該做什麼的？

I'll describe a couple strategies.

我將描述幾種對策，

One strategy is if your call's down here,

一個對策是，如果你的叫聲在下面這個位置，

and the noise is in this band,

而噪音在這個波段內，

you could shift the frequency of your call out of the noise band

你可以改變叫聲的頻率，擺脫噪音的波段，

and communicate better.

以進行更好的溝通。

Susan Parks of Penn State has actually studied this.

賓州州立大學的 Susan Parks 做了相關研究。

She's looked in the Atlantic. Here's data from the South Atlantic.

她把注意力集中在大西洋，這兒是來自南大西洋的資料，

Here's a typical South Atlantic contact call from the '70s.

這是自70年以來典型的南大西洋聯繫叫聲，

Look what happened by 2000 to the average call.

看看到2000年時，平均叫聲發生了什麼變化。

Same thing in the North Atlantic,

在北大西洋中，相較於50年代至2000年的資料，

in the '50s versus 2000.

也發生了同樣的變化，

Over the last 50 years,

在過去50年中，

as we've put more noise into the oceans,

隨著我們帶入海洋的噪音越來越多，

these whales have had to shift.

這些鯨魚不得不改變。

It's as if the whole population had to shift

這就好像，整個族群不得不

from being basses to singing as a tenor.

從彈奏貝司變成像男高音那樣唱歌。

It's an amazing shift, induced by humans

這是個令人驚訝的、由人類導致的變化，

over this large scale,

這一變化無論在時間還是空間上

in both time and space.

都有很大的跨度。

And we now know that whales can compensate for noise

現在我們知道，鯨魚能夠彌補噪音的影響，

by calling louder, like I did when that ship was playing,

通過發出更大的叫聲，如我剛才在播放船隻的聲音時所做的，

by waiting for silence

通過等待寂靜的到來，

and by shifting their call out of the noise band.

和通過改變牠們的叫聲來擺脫噪音干擾，

Now there's probably costs to calling louder

對於發出更大的叫聲

or shifting the frequency away from where you want to be,

或者是改變原有叫聲的頻率可能需要付出些代價，

and there's probably lost opportunities.

牠們可能會錯失良機，

If we also have to wait for silence,

如果不得不等待寂靜一刻的到來，

they may miss a critical opportunity to communicate.

牠們也許會錯過交流的重要機會。

So we have to be very concerned

因此我們要非常關注，

about when the noise in habitats

當棲息地裡頭的噪音

degrades the habitat enough

對棲息地的分隔

that the animals either have to pay too much to be able to communicate,

足以讓動物不得不付出更多心力才能溝通、

or are not able to perform critical functions.

或牠們無法進行某些關鍵功能時，

It's a really important problem.

這是個非常重要的問題。

And I'm happy to say that there are several

我可以很高興的說，在這一領域中

very promising developments in this area,

具有極為前瞻的進展，

looking at the impact of shipping on whales.

看看船隻對鯨的影響。

In terms of the shipping noise,

就船隻噪音而言，

the International Maritime Organization of the United Nations

聯合國國際海事組織（IMP）

has formed a group whose job is to establish

成立了一個團體

guidelines for quieting ships,

這個團體要建立船隻靜音指南，

to tell the industry how you could quiet ships.

藉此告訴工業界如何讓船隻靜音。

And they've already found

並且他們已經發現，

that by being more intelligent about better propeller design,

通過更智慧的、更好的螺旋槳設計

you can reduce that noise by 90 percent.

就能減少百分之九十的噪音。

If you actually insulate and isolate

如果確實地把船殼和船隻的機械裝置

the machinery of the ship from the hull,

隔離、分割開來，

you can reduce that noise by 99 percent.

你就能夠減少百分之九十九的噪音。

So at this point, it's primarily an issue of cost and standards.

因此，就這一點來說，這主要是成本與標準的問題，

If this group can establish standards,

如果這一組織能建立標準，

and if the shipbuilding industry adopts them for building new ships,

並且造船業採用這些標準來建造船隻，

we can now see a gradual decline

我們現在就能看到此一潛在問題

in this potential problem.

的逐步下降；

But there's also another problem from ships that I'm illustrating here,

但船隻還會造成另一個問題，看看這幅圖，

and that's the problem of collision.

碰撞的問題。

This is a whale that just squeaked by

這隻鯨魚剛好勉強躲過了

a rapidly moving container ship and avoided collision.

一艘快速通過的貨櫃船，避開了碰撞，

But collision is a serious problem.

然而，碰撞是個嚴重的問題，

Endangered whales are killed every year by ship collision,

每年都有瀕危的鯨由於船隻的碰撞而死亡。

and it's very important to try to reduce this.

嘗試減少這種情況發生是非常重要的，

I'll discuss two very promising approaches.

我會討論一下兩個非常有效的方法：

The first case comes from the Bay of Fundy.

第一個方法來自芬迪灣（Bay of Fundy），

These black lines mark shipping lanes

這些黑線標明了船隻

in and out of the Bay of Fundy.

進出芬迪灣的航線；

The colorized area

彩色的區域

shows the risk of collision for endangered right whales

表示船隻在這航道上航行

because of the ships moving in this lane.

所產生的與瀕危露脊鯨發生碰撞的風險。

It turns out that this lane here

原來的這條航線

goes right through a major feeding area of right whales in the summer time,

正好穿過夏天露脊鯨的一個主要繁殖區域，

and it makes an area of a significant risk of collision.

這使得此區存在極大的碰撞風險。

Well, biologists

而從來不說不的

who couldn't take no for an answer

生物學家們，這回

went to the International Maritime Organization

一起來到了國際海事組織

and petitioned them to say,

他們請願道：

"Can't you move that lane? Those are just lines on the ground.

「你們能移動那條航線嗎？這只是些地表上的線條而已，

Can't you move them over to a place

可否能把它們移到

where there's less of a risk?"

其他風險更小的地方去？」

And the International Maritime Organization responded very strongly,

國際海事組織的反應非常迅疾，

"These are the new lanes."

「這些是新航線。」

The shipping lanes have been moved.

航線已經移動過了，

And as you can see, the risk of collision is much lower.

如你所見，碰撞的風險小了很多。

So it's very promising, actually.

因此，實際上，這一方法非常有希望。

We can be very creative about thinking

我們能以創意的方式思考

of different ways to reduce these risks.

減少這些風險的不同方式；

Another action which was just taken independently

另一個方法已經由一家

by a shipping company itself

船運公司獨自落實了，

was initiated because of concerns the shipping company had

啟動這一方法 涉及了船運公司

about greenhouse gas emissions with global warming.

造成全球暖化的溫室氣體的排放：

The Maersk Line looked at their competition

快桅航運公司（The Maersk Line）審視了他們的競爭者，

and saw that everybody who is in shipping thinks time is money.

看到船運業中所有人都認為：時間就是金錢

They rush as fast as they can to get to their port.

他們盡其可能的快速到達港口，

But then they often wait there.

但是卻常常在港口等著。

What Maersk did is they worked ways to slow down.

快桅航運公司所做的是：放慢速度

They could slow down by about 50 percent.

他們會把速度降低一半，

This reduced their fuel consumption by about 30 percent,

這降低了百分之三十的燃油消耗，

which saved them money,

節省了費用，

and at the same time, it had a significant benefit for whales.

同時，這對鯨魚也有很大的好處。

It you slow down, you reduce the amount of noise you make

如果放慢速度，會減少噪音產生，

and you reduce the risk of collision.

並降低發生碰撞的風險。

So to conclude, I'd just like to point out,

因此，總結一下，我想指出，

you know, the whales live in

你知道，鯨魚生活在

an amazing acoustic environment.

令人驚異的聲納環境中，

They've evolved over tens of millions of years

牠們進化了數千萬餘年

to take advantage of this.

來利用環境

And we need to be very attentive and vigilant

我們要非常小心謹慎的

to thinking about where things that we do

考慮我們所做的事

may unintentionally prevent them

可能無意中對

from being able to achieve their important activities.

牠們的重要活動造成阻礙，

At the same time, we need to be really creative

同時，我們需要真正的創新思考，

in thinking of solutions to be able to help reduce these problems.

關於減少這些問題的創新思考，

I hope these examples have shown

我希望這些例子展示了

some of the different directions we can take

除了設立保護區之外，

in addition to protected areas

還有一些不同的方向。

to be able to keep the ocean safe for whales to be able to continue to communicate.

透過這些辦法，維護一個讓鯨魚能繼續溝通的安全海洋。

Thank you very much.

謝謝各位。

(Applause)

（掌聲）