Page 106 - Livre_MOW2021_EN

104 | THE BLUE GENERATION

BIOACOUSTICS WORKSHOP
Children listening

to the sounds of the ocean

Children aged 8 and 9 listened carefully to the fascinating orchestra of marine
animals during a video workshop dedicated to bioacoustics.

What if the sea was anything but a world of silence, POLLUTING NOISES
like we have long believed? If it was full of very diverse
and mysterious sounds? And if marine animals played The students also learned about noise pollution,
their part in a large orchestra? Dedicated to the up- which affects every corner of the ocean. Noise from
and-coming science of underwater acoustics, the boat engines reaches the bottom of the Mariana
school event offered by Culture Océan, the science trench, 11 kilometres under the surface, and more
education unit of the Villefranche Sea Institute (IMEV), powerful sounds, like sonar from surveying boats,
got students inspired during Monaco Ocean Week. can cause fatal injuries, particularly amongst ceta-
The Year 4 class from École Saint-Charles in Monaco ceans. The host showed how underwater acoustics
took part in a video workshop led by Manon Audax, was increasingly used for surveillance, conservation
science education leader at IMEV. and protection of the oceans. The students were very
interested in this issue. What a success!
A SOUND QUIZ

During the session, which was structured around
a sound quiz, the students just needed to prick up
their ears and listen carefully to rediscover the ocean:
the classic whistling of dolphins, the noise of boats,
the underwater murmuring of storms, but also per-
cussion by certain fish or the roar of ice in the sea...
Designed to get young people to discover the wide PROFILE
range of sounds in the ocean, the workshop invited
them to follow in the footsteps of researchers at IMEV
and the Chorus research institute. For 10 years, the Culture Océan team, the science education
unit at the Villefranche Sea Institute, has worked with
young people to introduce them to marine science and
understanding how the ocean works, a pre-requisite to
defend and protect it.