Abstract
Marine species are known to use acoustic signals for biologically critical functions such as foraging, communication, navigation, etc. The unregulated maritime activities in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) are translating into a rapid rise in the ambient noise and consequent acoustic degradation of the marine ecosystem. The environmental conservation initiatives are seen to be in direct conflict with the economic growth imperatives and are thus faced with significant political opposition. The lack of awareness regarding the acoustic aspect of the marine ecosystem towards generating credible underwater domain awareness is a major cause of concern and limits the effectiveness of any conservation efforts. Further, the IOR with its tropical littoral waters presents suboptimal performance of the underwater sensors deployed to generate underwater domain awareness. The authors attempt to provide an alternate perspective of the acoustic degradation of the marine ecosystem as a result of heightened maritime activities in the IOR. The complexities of formulating the regulatory framework and associated monitoring mechanism are also discussed.
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