Impact of ship noise on dolphins identified for first time with help of AI - Israeli study

• Published date: 25 March 2024
• Author: JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

While previous explorations were based on a linear observation for changes in the features of dolphin whistles, non-linear responses of bottlenose dolphins have now been investigated. The noise from ships affects dolphins – one of the world's most intelligent mammals – according to a study conducted at the University of Haifa that was based for the first time on artificial intelligence

The research headed by Prof. Roee Diamant and Dr. Aviad Scheinin and colleagues at the university's Charney School of Marine Sciences has just been published in the prestigious journal Scientific Reports of the Nature Group under the title "Observational study on the non-linear response of dolphins to the presence of vessels."

"Although it seems obvious, until now there was no empirical evidence that dolphins are affected by ship noise."

The unique communication of dolphins

Using AI, they were able to show that dolphins communicate in a unique way when ship noise is nearby.

"The influence of ship noise on communication between dolphins can cause them to move away from noise sources, which in some cases are their feeding grounds," the authors explained.

The researchers combined acoustic studies of dolphin whistles (the form of communication used by the mammals) with AI software that searched for patterns in the cries.

One of the main problems with studies of this type is observing these mammals' behavior, firstly when there is no ship noise and secondly when there is. This is the only way to determine whether the same dolphin behaves differently in each case. For this purpose, the researchers chose a location close to the dolphin reef in Eilat where common bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus) dolphins are regularly found.

Recording devices placed at a depth of 50 meters continuously recorded the sounds of nearby dolphins and shipping noise. From all the recorded sounds, the researchers filtered out 12,000 dolphin whistles and were able to assign them to the dolphins that were at that location. The algorithm developed by the researchers identified around 60,000 dolphin whistles when a ship was nearby, and the same number of whistles were identified when no ships were present.

"Maritime traffic has a very strong impact on the environment and public health in general and on the marine...