No abstract

Active acoustic applications in marine bioacoustics include the use of pingers to dissuade marine mammals. Pingers are most frequently used by the fishing industry to prevent depredation and entanglement. Pingers are also used by other marine industries to dissuade animals from potentially dangerous sites, e.g., underwater turbines. The Queensland Shark Control uses pingers to prevent marine mammal entanglement in shark control nets along public beaches. We have recorded and characterized some of the most common pingers off Queensland. Sound propagation and the potential detection of pinger sounds by marine mammals were modeled. Ambient noise was recorded in the vicinity of shark nets to estimate the contribution of pingers to ambient sound budgets. [Work supported by the Australian Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts; Australian Antarctic Division.]