Marine mammals and anthropogenic noise: Challenges from a management and regulatory prospective.

Abstract

Responsibilities of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) include conserving and recovering marine species protected under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection and Endangered Species Acts. One of our primary objectives is to assess the risks anthropogenic noise in marine/coastal environments poses to animals in those environments and implement appropriate measures to reduce these risks. Many challenges to achieving these goals exist from both a scientific and a regulatory perspective. Accounting for the inherent complexity of source characteristics, noise propagation through the environment, and temporal/spatial overlap between sources and protected species, as well as understanding how noise exposure affects species are often quite difficult. Exposures typically are either high‐level, short‐term (e.g., seismic survey), or lower‐level, long‐term (e.g., construction project), with each presenting different risks. Establishing appropriate metrics for describing noise sources, assessing effects on indivi...