Whaling Panel Addresses Impact of Air Guns

FRIGATE BAY, St. Kitts and Nevis, June 19 -- The International Whaling Commission called Monday for the oil and gas industry to find ways to reduce the impact on marine species of seismic air guns, which use noises loud enough to cross entire oceans in the search for oil.

The IWC said the air guns are a threat to whales, dolphins, squid and other species in the world's oceans and called for more research and for "mitigation" procedures to be developed.

The guns, which are increasingly used to map potential oil and gas deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, Australia's Northwest Shelf and elsewhere, were found to damage hearing, disrupt migratory patterns and reduce fish catches.

"The idea that sound-sensitive species can coexist with this is simply incredible," said Joel Reynolds of the Natural Resources Defense Council, lauding the step taken by the IWC.

He said the noise generated is so explosive that the sound of an air gun used off the coast of California travels all the way to Asia.

The report and recommendations on air guns from the IWC's scientific committee were unanimously endorsed at the commission's annual meeting on the Caribbean island state of St. Kitts and Nevis.

A spokesman for Exxon Mobil Corp., which is represented at the IWC, was not available to comment.