Oceans Listen: The Acoustic Ecology of Ocean Governance
In her paper, Roburn trains her ear on the acoustic ecology of the arctic's rapidly warming oceans. As multiyear ice increasingly gives way to seasonal ice, or to no ice at all, the physical and geopolitical resonances of arctic ocean spaces are changing. Climate change is increasing human incursions into arctic waters--be they for oil and gas exploration and exploitation, ocean floor mapping, or increased container ship and tourist traffic--and shifting their acoustic register. Acoustic pollution is on the rise, particularly in the frequency ranges in which whales and dolphins employ echolocation to hunt, mate, navigate, and communicate with one another. This rising cacaphony poses a defining threat to the survival of arctic whale populations, and to the well-being of Yupik, Inupiat, and Inuvialuit whaling communities in the far north.
Yet, as Roburn notes, any discussion of ocean acoustic ecology enters into a history of increasing polarization between the many stakeholders and many discourses at play; efforts to limit marine acoustic noise take place within the shifting, contested topographies of global ocean regulation. In this complex, evolving conflict, reframing the ocean as an acoustic space breaks down existing categories and binaries, opening possibilities for cooperation and coordination. Rethinking ocean experiences at a phenomenological level offers insight into the assumptions that humans bring, consciously and unconsciously, as land-dwelling creatures who experience the world primarily through the medium of air. These assumptions limit our ability to scope the particular types and qualities of noise pollution which most affect ocean creatures. By more fully appreciating the different acoustic properties of salt water, and the adaptations cetaceans have made to this medium, it is possible to reconceptualize acoustics as an important parameter of ocean ecosystems: ocean acuostic ecology then becomes part of any meaningful marine protection strategy.
Drawing on indigenous cosmologies as well as developments in soundscape theory, Roburn proposes a relational understanding of ocean places and acoustic communities that is flexible and context specific. To take seriously the concept of increased ocean "acoustic smog" as a form of chronic environmental degradation is to recontextualize threats to marine life, clearly linking these not just to fishing and whaling, but to all industrial activities that alter ocean soundscapes. What are the consequences of these sonic incursions into the more-than-human world? How can we cut through the cacaphony? How will we listen to the ocean and its creatures? The survival of arctic whales, and arctic whaling communities, depend not only on our answers, but on how global institutions enact them.
