The Government of Canada is investing in new technologies that will help reduce underwater noise from vessels on Canada’s waters, according to Canada.ca.
The Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra, announced more than $3.1 million for 22 projects to help reduce the impact of underwater vessel noise.
These projects include:
Workshops to identify safe and practical approaches to reducing underwater noise;
developing a tool available to all members of the marine industry to predict and implement effective quiet designs into new vessel being built;
developing new, real-time tools to track underwater noise released by marine vessels; and
developing a tool to detect marine mammals and alert nearby vessels.
Projects are funded through Transport Canada’s Quiet Vessel Initiative and builds on previous actions taken to keep the marine ecosystem safe, such as the Whales Initiative. As part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to keep marine mammals safe, the Quiet Vessels Initiative will help protect the marine environment more than ever before.
The Quiet Vessel Initiative was announced on June 30, 2021 and is one of eight accommodation measures developed to address the concerns of Indigenous communities regarding the Trans Mountain Expansion Project.
Projects funded through the Quiet Vessel Initiative will help generate the technical evidence needed to support Canada’s noise management measures in the Salish Sea and elsewhere in Canada. They will also provide guidance to industry, academia, and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to influence future quiet vessel design standards and adoption.