Scientists hoping to gather valuable data about sea level rise off the New Jersey coastline may be thwarted by environmental and fishing groups who object that the project will disturb the local ecosystem.
Originally planning to start June 3, the Rutgers University researchers have outlined a project that will flood a 240-square-mile section of seabed with sound waves for a seismic image, a local CBS News outlet reported. The area starts 15 miles off Long Beach Island and should reveal precious information for climate change research.
"This has been designated almost a global resource," Gregory Mountain, lead researcher and a Rutgers University geology professor, told CBS. "The New Jersey coastline has [information] embedded in the sediments that is unsurpassed anywhere else .... this is where the earth has its record for us to see."
While the sound waves from the acoustic imaging may bother fish and other marine creatures for a time, Mountain believes the resulting data will be worth the risk.
"This information that we're gathering is going to inform our scientists and our policy-makers," he told CBS.
The team is planning to work from a specialized National Science Foundation research vessel, the Marcus G. Langseth, which will send out a burst of compressed air at intervals, creating a pulse of sound to bounce off the surrounding seabed.
The project was close to receiving the necessary approval from the National Marine Fisheries Service, but after the backlash, the agency has agreed to a 30-day public comment period and is reviewing the responses, according to The Daily Journal.
Nine environmental groups, including Clean Ocean Action, Save Barnegat Bay and the Center for Biological Diversity, have requested that the project be stopped or be required to take place outside the summer migration and fishing season.
"The effect of the ocean blasting through these seismic airguns and echosounders can cause everything from 'harassment' to death," Cindy Zipf of Clean Ocean Action told CBS. "The information from these images does not justify the impact."
Potential disturbances include such scenarios as causing a whale to change its course, cease feeding or stop communicating with other whales; however, the university team has planned to have five mammal experts on the vessel to observe surrounding ocean life and slow or halt the project if certain species are nearby.
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