Minister of Transport Marc Garneau welcomes Green Marine’s efforts regarding underwater noise

Attending a Greater Vancouver Board of Trade luncheon yesterday, the Minister of Transport Marc Garneau praised the partnership with Green Marine that has led to a better understanding of underwater noise generated by commercial shipping and port activities, along with its impacts and possible mitigations measures.

“My officials have been working closely with Green Marine on a study to improve understanding of the impacts of both natural and human-caused underwater noise on marine animals,” he explained. “The study is available on the Transport Canada website so that all can benefit from its insights.”

Garneau was delighted to see Green Marine launch two new performance indicators for underwater noise in its North American environmental certification program. The indicators deal with underwater noise emanating from ships and port activities respectively, with the goal of reducing the impact on marine mammals.

“These indicators were developed with the collaboration of experts from the marine research and science community, environmental non-government organizations, and the federal government,” he added. “This leadership initiative is the first of its kind in the world – one in which companies will be formally evaluated on their efforts to reduce underwater noise from their operations.”

The new underwater noise performance indicators will be optional during the first year of assessment (in 2017), as is always the case when new indicators are added to the program. They will subsequently be mandatory to obtain Green Marine certification.