[darkseas]

Or consider if one of those creatures hears the noise while diving deep. If it gets spooked and comes to the surface too fast, it will get the bends.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but i thought deep diving mammals couldn't get the bends on breath-hold because they haven't breathed compressed gas. Sure, high energy sound can damaging, but scare whales bent? please.

[vilhelm_s]

I don't think that matters. As the whale dives, their lungs get squished together, so the air inside them is at a higher pressure, just as it would be if you breathed from a pressure regulator. The noise pollution -> decompression sickness theory is apparently an established thing: http://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/saltwater-science/do_wha...