Cetaceans and military sonar: A need for better management

IQOE is past the mid-point in implementation of its Science Plan (available here) and has successfully coordinated a variety of activities in ocean acoustics and bioacoustics through IQOE working groups on the use of acoustics to assess biodiversity, the importance of acoustic observations in the Arctic Ocean, standards for reporting ocean acoustic and bioacoustic data for IQOE, software for making acoustic observations comparable worldwide, and recommendations for implementation of an Ocean Sound Essential Ocean Variable for the Global Ocean Observing System. IQOE progress has been documented since June 2018 through IQOE Newsletters and since the beginning of the project through other products. IQOE identified 2020 as the Year of the Quiet Ocean because of evidence that ocean sound decreased because of decreases in human activities in the ocean due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Activities in 2022 will include completion of the Ocean Sound Essential Ocean Variable Implementation Plan, initiation of new activities on low-cost ocean acoustic observing systems, launch of the Open Portal to Underwater Sound (OPUS), work on ocean acoustics for the UN Decade on Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, and meetings of IQOE working groups and Science Committee.