Many underwater realms have become very noisy. An increase in motorboats, primarily commercial shipping traffic, exploration and extraction of oil and other minerals, sonar and even coastal jet ski traffic are contributing to the increased level of underwater noise. "If you could lay down under the shipping lanes at Great South Channel (off Cape Cod) and spend the day there, you would get the impression of being on the tarmac at Logan Airport," said Christopher W. Clark, who runs the Bioacoustics Research Program at Cornell University