[ Construction noises ]
-Beneath the waves of Puget Sound,
the noise of the world above fades.
[ Orcas whistle ]
Here, the endangered Southern Resident orcas
rely on that quiet,
speaking to each other in a complex language
and using echolocation to hunt for salmon.
But the human cacophony...
[ Boat engine whirring ]
...follows them even here.
This is the sound of a passing ship
recorded on an underwater microphone called a hydrophone.
-Sound actually travels four times faster and further
in water than it does above water,
and we know that vessels emit sound in the frequencies
that killer whales need in order to communicate and hunt.
-Rachel Aronson is the program director
for Quiet Sound of Washington Maritime Blue,
which hopes to give these struggling whales
back their peace.
They ran a trial shipping slowdown last year
from October to January,
measuring sound reduction for the good of the whales.
Between Port Townsend and Edmonds,
they asked passing large vessels
to voluntarily reduce their speed to 14.5 knots
or 11 knots, depending on the type.
Hydrophones were used to measure sound levels.
-That's about a reduction of 30% to 50%
from usual cruising speeds
for these types of vessels.
-It was voluntary, so of 623 transits,
70% participated in some way,
and 53% fully met the speed targets.
Whales were present in that zone
43% of slowdown days, according to their report.
That led to a soundscape that was 45% less noisy,
which they consider a fantastic result.
[ Construction noises ]
But importantly, they found there wasn't a huge burden
on the shipping system,
which bodes well for future work,
though it did add about an hour per trip.
-So far, we're hearing that it had a pretty minimal impact
on commercial shipping.
We didn't hear of any impacts happening at the port.
We didn't hear of any impacts
happening in the systems that receive the ship.
From our conversations so far, it seems like it worked okay.
-It was a great opportunity to just, you know,
add value environmentally to Puget Sound.
-Matt Hannuksela is a Puget Sound Pilot,
the group that boards ships
to help them navigate the inland waters.
The Pilots were the face of this effort,
pitching the vessel captains on participating,
and Hannuksela said as a trusted messenger,
it was generally well received.
-I think it's fantastic. It's really rewarding
in that you're moving a big piece of steel around
to help out, you know, commerce
and the citizens of Washington State,
but at the same time, you're able to really do something
that has some environmental impact for a positive.
-He felt like a voice for the whales
and hopes it will make a difference.
-To make a successful impact,
all parties have to maybe compromise a little bit
because nobody is going to ultimately win.
So I think everybody came to the table
willing to give up what they could
to have a successful result.
-Noise is not the only threat
that the Southern Residents face,
as state reports have identified it
as one of three primary issues,
with pollution and prey availability.
But it is one that might be simpler to address.
-The thing I love about noise pollution
is that when you stop the noise,
the noise pollution is gone instantly.
It's not like toxics pollution,
where toxics can stay in the water on and on.
-And worth the effort,
when you consider the human-caused conditions
these incredible animals face,
the acoustic blinders of these busy waters.
-For them, noise is a full body experience.
Noise is a vibration of the whole medium that they exist in.
It really limits their world,
their scope of vision, as it were.
For us, it'd be like being surrounded
by a thick fog all the time.
-And with just 73 left, every little bit helps.
-They're a really small population.
That means they get more vulnerable.
We need to do everything we can
to keep this unique group of whales alive and around.
[ Orcas chirping ]
♪♪
-Watch CityStream, Tuesday nights at 7,
on the Seattle Channel,
or find us anytime online at SeattleChannel.org.
♪♪