Monitoring ship noise to assess the impact of coastal developments on marine mammals.

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Date
2014Author
Merchant, Nathan D.
Pirotta, Enrico
Barton, Tim R.
Thompson, Paul M.
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Show full item recordAbstract
The potential impacts of underwater noise on marine mammals are widely recognised, but uncertainty
over variability in baseline noise levels often constrains efforts to manage these impacts. This paper
characterises natural and anthropogenic contributors to underwater noise at two sites in the Moray Firth
Special Area of Conservation, an important marine mammal habitat that may be exposed to increased
shipping activity from proposed offshore energy developments. We aimed to establish a pre-development
baseline, and to develop ship noise monitoring methods using Automatic Identification System
(AIS) and time-lapse video to record trends in noise levels and shipping activity. Our results detail the
noise levels currently experienced by a locally protected bottlenose dolphin population, explore the relationship between broadband sound exposure levels and the indicators proposed in response to the EU
Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and provide a ship noise assessment toolkit w.....
Journal
Marine Pollution BulletinVolume
78Page Range
pp. 85–95Document Language
enSustainable Development Goals (SDG)
14.1Essential Ocean Variables (EOV)
Ocean soundMaturity Level
TRL 8 Actual system completed and "mission qualified" through test and demonstration in an operational environment (ground or space)Best Practice Type
Manual (incl. handbook, guide, cookbook etc)Standard Operating Procedure
Spatial Coverage
Moray FirthDOI Original
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.10.058Citation
Merchant, N.D.; Pirotta, E.; Barton, T. R. and Thompson, P.M. (2014) Monitoring ship noise to assess the impact of coastal developments on marine mammals. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 78, pp.85-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.10.058Collections
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