Recommended metrics for quantifying underwater noise impacts on North Atlantic right whales

The role of operators in sustainable whale-watching tourism: Proposing a continuous training framework

“…Surveyed experts say that the increase in perception is either due to more evidence of ship strikes and noise in some locations (Eric Hoyt), or due to low awareness and knowledge of the topic (Heidi Pearson and Ted Cheeseman). Another factor that might influence perception is that Canada’s public outreach activities are mostly devoted to acoustic pollution, with less attention to other impacts [ 60 ].…”

Applying technical guidance from the USA for management of impacts of anthropogenic noise on wildlife in other countries: the Canadian context

“…Thus, using these thresholds to manage noise-producing activities can only partially address prohibited impacts. There also remain many knowledge gaps in our understanding of how noise impacts marine mammals, including what noise metrics are most important from a biological context (see Wright 2014Wright , 2015DFO 2015;CBD 2020;Marotte et al 2022, for a list of relevant knowledge gaps and recommended research to address these gaps). As a consequence, it is important for managers to be aware of and carefully assess the various limitations, assumptions, and sources of uncertainty of any regulatory thresholds before their application.…”

“…The approach within the NMFS Technical Guidance to employ dual SEL cum and SPL peak criteria to account for the differences between how nonimpulsive and impulsive noise can induce TTS or PTS thus appears to be broadly appropriate (see Marotte et al 2022). Unfortunately, certain sounds, such as military sonars, are not easily assigned to one category or another, as they contain characteristics of both (see Marotte et al 2022).…”

“…The approach within the NMFS Technical Guidance to employ dual SEL cum and SPL peak criteria to account for the differences between how nonimpulsive and impulsive noise can induce TTS or PTS thus appears to be broadly appropriate (see Marotte et al 2022). Unfortunately, certain sounds, such as military sonars, are not easily assigned to one category or another, as they contain characteristics of both (see Marotte et al 2022). Another question relates to the risks to the animals arising from the use of a maximum 24 h accumulation window for SEL, given that human accumulation periods are typically orientated to avoid the effects arising from accumulated lifetime exposures (see below).…”

“…Another question relates to the risks to the animals arising from the use of a maximum 24 h accumulation window for SEL, given that human accumulation periods are typically orientated to avoid the effects arising from accumulated lifetime exposures (see below). However, given there is no practical way to track the lifetime exposure of a marine mammal, there seems to be no better alternative than the use of a 24 h window at this time (see Marotte et al 2022). That said, it remains important to understand the limitations of this approach (see above).…”