Marine Symphony: International LISTEN Project Maps Gulf Soundscape to Protect Rice’s Whale

Underwater Orchestra: How Scientists Are Listening to the Gulf

There is a rich, complex "symphony" playing beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, and an international team behind the Long-term Investigations into Soundscapes, Trends, Ecosystems, and Noise in the Gulf of Mexico (LISTEN) Project has been quietly recording it. Researchers deployed 24 long-term listening instruments — High-Frequency Acoustic Recording Packages (HARPs) — across the Gulf and recorded continuously for nearly a year.

The recordings were retrieved by teams from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, Universidad Veracruzana (UV), the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and NOAA's Southeast Fisheries Science Center. Of the 24 HARPs, eight were placed in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), 15 in Mexico’s EEZ, and one in international waters.

Each HARP captured between 219 and 317 days of continuous sound. Although the devices and datasets were recovered by July 2025, processing and analyzing hundreds of thousands of hours of audio is time-consuming; researchers will need months to extract, verify, and interpret the acoustic signals.

The soundscape: orchestra, instruments, and a fragile soloist

Scientists describe the Gulf’s acoustic environment with an orchestral analogy: the "woodwinds" are marine mammals, clicking and singing to communicate; the "low brass" is the steady movement of water and currents; and the "percussion" comes from human activities such as vessel traffic, seismic surveys, and industrial noise.

Standing out from that background is a precarious soloist: the critically endangered Rice’s whale. The Gulf of Mexico is the only known habitat for this species, and scientists estimate there are only about 26 mature individuals remaining. Acoustic detections that reveal where and when Rice’s whales are present are therefore vital for targeted conservation measures.

Why this matters

The LISTEN deployment was a large collaboration that included projects funded by the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment and the RESTORE Science Program. The combined dataset will inform multiple priorities: locating and tracking rare species, understanding seasonal and regional soundscape dynamics, and guiding noise-mitigation strategies to reduce human impacts on marine life.

"High-resolution acoustic monitoring can reveal patterns that visual surveys miss, especially for rare, deep-diving or hard-to-see species," researchers note.

Over the coming months and years, the team will publish analyses that could influence shipping regulation, timing of industrial activities, protected-area planning, and other actions designed to reduce harmful noise and protect marine biodiversity in the Gulf.

Author note: Sara Tonks is a content meteorologist with weather.com and holds advanced degrees in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and Marine Science.