Abstract
Juvenile Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, were exposed to simulated high intensity pile driving signals to evaluate their ability to recover from barotrauma injuries. Fish were exposed to one of two cumulative sound exposure levels for 960 pile strikes (217 or 210 dB re 1 µPa2·s SELcum; single strike sound exposure levels of 187 or 180 dB re 1 µPa2⋅s SELss respectively). This was followed by an immediate assessment of injuries, or assessment 2, 5, or 10 days post-exposure. There were no observed mortalities from the pile driving sound exposure. Fish exposed to 217 dB re 1 µPa2·s SELcum displayed evidence of healing from injuries as post-exposure time increased. Fish exposed to 210 dB re 1 µPa2·s SELcum sustained minimal injuries that were not significantly different from control fish at days 0, 2, and 10. The exposure to 210 dB re 1 µPa2·s SELcum replicated the findings in a previous study that defined this level as the threshold for onset of injury. Furthermore, these data support the hypothesis that one or two Mild injuries resulting from pile driving exposure are unlikely to affect the survival of the exposed animals, at least in a laboratory environment.
Highlights
Anthropogenic noise in aquatic environments has developed into an issue of worldwide concern due to its potential negative effects on animal life
Of particular interest and concern are the potential effects of the intense sounds produced by in-water pile driving used for construction and repair of bridges and infrastructure, as well as offshore wind farms
The current study examined the recovery of juvenile Chinook salmon resulting from injuries sustained at two different SELcum levels of pile driving
Summary
Anthropogenic noise in aquatic environments has developed into an issue of worldwide concern due to its potential negative effects on animal life. Despite the concern that pile driving could harm fishes, it was only during construction of the east span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge in California in 2008 that federal and state regulators on the US West Coast established interim criteria for onset of tissue damage to fishes that might occur as a result of exposure to pile driving [12,13]. These interim criteria were based upon the total amount of sound to which fishes were exposed during a pile driving operation, and were addressed as accumulated sound exposure levels (SELcum). Scientists and regulators involved in the regulatory rulings expected that future research would produce better data for the response of fishes to pile driving sound exposures as well as a more thorough understanding of the effects of pile driving on fish physiology [14,15]
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