Skip to content
Green
Climate Politics

UN Agency Moves to Curb Underwater Shipping Noise That Affects Marine Life

The International Maritime Organization revised its noise guidelines as Inuit communities raised concerns about effects on seals, narwhals and other animals.

The Admiral Makarov icebreaking ship in Murmansk, Russia, in 2019. 

The Admiral Makarov icebreaking ship in Murmansk, Russia, in 2019. 

Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

The International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency responsible for the safety and security of global shipping and the prevention of pollution by the industry, is revising 2014 guidelines for commercial ships in order to reduce underwater noise that threatens some marine species.

Among the organizations that had pushed for changes, a group representing Inuit communities in Canada, the US, Greenland and Chukotka, an autonomous district of Russia, had asked for greater protection of the marine animals on which their livelihoods and culture depend.