Graphite Innovation and Technologies (GIT), a Green Marine partner, has been awarded a contract by Transport Canada valued at $2.4 million to investigate a new technology to help reduce the underwater noise and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) produced by marine vessels.
Marine mammals and fish use hearing as their primary sense and are highly dependent upon sound for navigation, communication, food location, reproduction, and hazard detection. Underwater noise has steadily been increasing in the ocean environment since the 1950s and is adversely affecting marine life.
The project will examine ways to reduce both underwater noise and GHG emissions from small inshore fishing boats that are common in Atlantic Canada and typically affect the coastal soundscape. GIT is involved with First Nations organizations on this project to test its marine coating innovations on Indigenous-owned and -operated vessels.