High frequency components of ship noise in shallow water with a discussion of implications for harbor porpoises (<i>Phocoena phocoena</i>)

Hermannsen, Line; Beedholm, Kristian; Tougaard, Jakob; Madsen, Peter T.

doi:10.1121/1.4893908

Cited by 102 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Both short-term (Thompson et al 2013a) and long-term displacement (Teilmann & Carstensen 2012) as well as changes in foraging behaviour (Pirotta et al 2014) have been reported as likely consequences of construction-related activity to this species. In addition, harbour porpoises are also likely to actively avoid vessels (Hermannsen et al 2014, Dyndo et al 2015; however, despite the present study finding evidence of constructionrelated activity reducing porpoise occurrence in the bay, it did not find any such pattern with respect to the number of vessels within the bay. Conversely, an increase in vessel numbers did have a strong, negative influence on the occurrence of common dolphins.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Effect of construction-related activities and vessel traffic on marine mammals

Culloch¹,

Anderwald²,

Brandecker³

et al. 2016

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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During the construction of a gas pipeline from an offshore gas field in northwest Ireland, a year-round shore-based marine mammal monitoring programme was undertaken. Using 6 yr of data, generalised estimating equations-generalised additive models (GEE-GAMs) were used to investigate if construction-related activity and vessel traffic influenced the occurrence of common dolphin, minke whale, harbour porpoise and grey seal within the area where the pipeline made landfall. Construction-related activity reduced harbour porpoise and minke whale presence, whilst an increase in vessel numbers (independent of construction-related activity) reduced common dolphin presence. All species showed some degree of annual and seasonal variation in occurrence. For common dolphins and harbour porpoises, we found similar seasonal patterns to those reported in broader Irish waters, which tentatively suggests that seasonal patterns persisted irrespective of construction-related activity or vessel traffic, indicating that any impact might have been only short-term. Multiple construction-related activities occurred simultaneously in different areas, and the inter-annual variation may, in part, be an indication of variation in species' response to particular activities, their intensity and their location. However, the precise location of the activities was not regularly recorded, limiting our ability to investigate the fine-scale spatio−temporal impact of the diverse range of construction-related activities. Improved communication and coordination between developers, regulators and scientists will help ensure that monitoring programmes are effective and efficient, to better inform our understanding of potential impacts and to mitigate effectively against them for future developments.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Effect of construction-related activities and vessel traffic on marine mammals

Culloch¹,

Anderwald²,

Brandecker³

et al. 2016

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…Although various studies have focused on the effect of whale and dolphin watching tourism on cetaceans [31, 37, 40, 42, 47–49], fewer studies have discussed local marine traffic and international maritime impact on harbour porpoises [50–53]. The current study revealed that Black Sea harbour porpoises spend half of their daylight time within the 400 m range of marine vessels throughout the Istanbul Strait, and that marine traffic induces significant changes not only on swimming direction but also on behavioural transitions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of marine traffic on the behaviour of Black Sea harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena relicta) within the Istanbul Strait, Turkey

et al. 2017

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Marine traffic is threatening cetaceans on a local and global scale. The Istanbul Strait is one of the busiest waterways, with up to 2,500 vessels present daily. This is the first study to assess the magnitude of short- and long-term behavioural changes of the endangered Black Sea harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena relicta) in the presence of marine vessels within the Istanbul Strait. Markov chains were used to investigate the effect of vessel presence on the transition probability between behavioural states (diving, surface-feeding and travelling), and to quantify the effect on the behavioural budget and bout length (duration of time spent in a given state) of porpoises. Further, the changes on swimming directions of porpoises in relation to vessel speed and distance was investigated using generalized linear models. In vessel presence, porpoises were less likely to remain in a given behavioural state and instead more likely to switch to another state. Because of this, the bout length of all three behavioural states decreased significantly in the presence of vessels. The vessel effect was sufficiently large to alter the behavioural budget, with surface-feeding decreasing significantly in the presence of vessels. However, when taking into account the proportion of time that porpoises were exposed to vessels (i.e. 50%), the measured effect size was not large enough to significantly alter the animals’ cumulative (diurnal) behavioural budget. Additionally, vessel speed and distance had a significant effect on the probability of porpoises showing a response in their swimming directions. The southern and middle sections of the Istanbul Strait, which have the heaviest marine traffic pressure, had the lowest porpoise sightings throughout the year. Conversely, northern sections that were exposed to a lesser degree of marine traffic hold the highest porpoise sightings. The effect shown in this study in combination with increasing human impacts within the northern sections should be considered carefully and species-specific conservation actions, including establishment of protected areas, should be put in place to prevent the long-term consequences of marine traffic on the Black Sea harbour porpoise population.

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“…3) were driven by identifiable sources of human activity (mainly shipping), rather than the contribution of natural noise sources. However, the current choice of MSFD frequency bands at 63 Hz and 125 Hz may inadequately reflect the risk of acoustic masking38, and can be contaminated by flow noise31, and higher frequency bands (e.g. at 250 or 500 Hz) appear to better correlate with broadband levels of shipping noise31.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Underwater noise levels in UK waters

Merchant

Brookes

Faulkner

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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Underwater noise from human activities appears to be rising, with ramifications for acoustically sensitive marine organisms and the functioning of marine ecosystems. Policymakers are beginning to address the risk of ecological impact, but are constrained by a lack of data on current and historic noise levels. Here, we present the first nationally coordinated effort to quantify underwater noise levels, in support of UK policy objectives under the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Field measurements were made during 2013–2014 at twelve sites around the UK. Median noise levels ranged from 81.5–95.5 dB re 1 μPa for one-third octave bands from 63–500 Hz. Noise exposure varied considerably, with little anthropogenic influence at the Celtic Sea site, to several North Sea sites with persistent vessel noise. Comparison of acoustic metrics found that the RMS level (conventionally used to represent the mean) was highly skewed by outliers, exceeding the 97th percentile at some frequencies. We conclude that environmental indicators of anthropogenic noise should instead use percentiles, to ensure statistical robustness. Power analysis indicated that at least three decades of continuous monitoring would be required to detect trends of similar magnitude to historic rises in noise levels observed in the Northeast Pacific.

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High frequency components of ship noise in shallow water with a discussion of implications for harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)

Cited by 102 publications

References 41 publications

Effect of construction-related activities and vessel traffic on marine mammals

Effect of construction-related activities and vessel traffic on marine mammals

The effects of marine traffic on the behaviour of Black Sea harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena relicta) within the Istanbul Strait, Turkey

Underwater noise levels in UK waters

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