Abstract
AbstractMany countries have made statutory commitments to ensure that underwater noise pollution is at levels which do not harm marine ecosystems. Nevertheless, coordinated action to manage cumulative noise levels is lacking, despite broad recognition of the risks to ecosystem health. We attribute this impasse to a lack of quantitative management targets—or “noise budgets”—which regulatory decision‐makers can work toward, and propose a framework of risk‐based noise exposure indicators which make such targets possible. These indicators employ novel noise exposure curves to quantify the proportion of a population or habitat exposed, and the associated exposure duration. This methodology facilitates both place‐based and ecosystem‐based approaches, enabling the integration of noise management into marine spatial planning, risk assessment of population‐level consequences, and cumulative effects assessment. Using data from the first international assessment of impulsive noise activity, we apply this approach to herring spawning and harbor porpoise in the North Sea.
Highlights
Anthropogenic noise is becoming widely recognized as a pervasive and significant threat to wildlife (Francis & Barber 2013)
The method proposed is compatible with either approach, and requires a management area (MA) to be specified for the indicator species (Figure 2A): either a defined habitat, such as a marine protected area (MPA) or spawning area, or a management unit—a spatial boundary for a population at an ecologically relevant scale
The population density and noise pressure maps are combined to produce a risk map (Figure 2D), following the methodology used in Maxwell et al (2013) for cumulative effects assessment
Summary
Anthropogenic noise is becoming widely recognized as a pervasive and significant threat to wildlife (Francis & Barber 2013). We define and demonstrate risk-based noise-exposure indicators which address this need, enabling managers to quantify and reduce the exposure of managed populations to noise pollution. Species-level objectives can be based on managing noise exposure (Figure 1).
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