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In this episode we talk with Michael Stocker about the impact sounds in our oceans have on all marine life (including low to mid-frequency sonar, shipping traffic, and blasting). Michael is founding director of Ocean Conservation Research (Sound Science Serving the Sea), where he uses his fluency in bio-acoustics to explore the impacts of noise on ocean animals to inform ocean policy and practice toward decreasing human bio-acoustic impacts on marine habitats.

Ocean Conservation Research is focused on understanding the energy and noise impacts of the industrialization of the ocean, and its consequences on marine life. They engage in marine biological and technological research based on conservation priorities. They use the products of this research to inform the policies and practice of the public, industry, and lawmakers so that we may all become stewards of the sea.

Michael is an acoustician and naturalist by trade and a musician by avocation, he has written and spoken about marine bio-acoustics and the impacts ocean noise pollution on marine life since 1992, presenting in national and regional hearings, National/Int’l TV, radio and news publications, as well as museums, schools, and universities. His understanding of both physics and biology has proven invaluable in court testimony and legal briefs, defending the environment against the dangers of human generated noise in the sea.

Michael has been a panelist and presenter at various professional, trade, and technical conferences, presenting on bio-acoustics and technology.
He has advised and designed environments and technical online systems for a diverse array of clients including the U.S. National Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C., George Lucas’ “Skywalker Ranch,” and various premier Hollywood sound and film studios.

And as a member of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) bio-acoustics committee, and an ANSI delegate to the International Standards Organization (ISO) committee on Underwater Acoustics, Michael has been developing more accurate methods of assessing and expressing the dimensions of the marine acoustic environment and the impacts of noise on marine habitats.

Michael’s book 'Hear Where We Are : Sound, Ecology, and Sense of Place' (Springer 2013) is an assembly of ideas and understandings of human and animal sound perception.

This episode includes the voice work of Seve Cardosi, Program & Production Dir

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Leigh Anne Lindsey Producer/Host/GM KGUA Public Radio South Mendocino Coast, Filmmaker/Filmnmaker Sea Storm Studios, The Sea Ranch, North Sonoma Coast

Scott & Tree Mercer, Co-hosts Mendonoma Whale & Seal Study, Mendocino and Sonoma Coasts