Using Sound To Help Preserve Coral Reefs

Scientists around the world are teaming up with Google and the public to better study the health of coral reefs. It's happening on the sidelines of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt.

Researchers are asking people to put their ears to the ocean to save the world’s coral reef which experts say is under growing threat from climate change, pollution and overfishing. “There's a whole sonic world that we're not aware of, so it's really exciting to find out what all these sounds mean,” says marine biologist Mary Shodipo.

Shodipo and her team dove deep to capture hundreds of hours of coral sounds in marine-protected areas around the globe, including sites in the Philippines and Egypt.

Google is helping scientists sift through the audio with an online platform anyone can access. The Google Arts and Culture site reveals what a healthy reef or a damaged one might sound like. “So, we've got like a listening collective where you have ears all over the world and also people listen differently, so a young person can hear higher frequencies and they might pick out a fish sound that an older person won't,” says Shodipo.

All the listening is aimed at uncovering different sounds of marine life to help track illegal mining and pinpoint areas in need of revitalization. Shodipo says, “The same sound can mean a different thing if they change color, so there's all these nuances in the sounds that we want to know about so we can understand what is happening, how they're communicating.”

Scientists say as more people give their ears to the project – the eyes of the world will be opened to the importance of protecting the beauty below.

A study from the Wildlife Conservation Society found only 2 and a half percent of the world's corals are formally protected and conserved through laws and regulations.