Abstract
Noise pollution is increasing globally, and as oceans are excellent conductors of sound, this is a major concern for marine species reliant on sound for key life functions. Loud, impulsive sounds from seismic surveys have been associated with impacts on many marine taxa including mammals, crustaceans, cephalopods, and fish. However, impacts across large spatial scales or multiple species are rarely considered. We modelled over 8,000 hours of cetacean survey data across a large marine ecosystem covering > 880,000 km2 to investigate the effect of seismic surveys on baleen and toothed whales. We found a significant effect of seismic activity across multiple species and habitats, with an 88% (82–92%) decrease in sightings of baleen whales, and a 53% (41–63%) decrease in sightings of toothed whales during active seismic surveys when compared to control surveys. Significantly fewer sightings of toothed whales also occurred during active versus inactive airgun periods of seismic surveys, although some species-specific response to noise was observed. This study provides strong evidence of multi-species impacts from seismic survey noise on cetaceans. Given the global proliferation of seismic surveys and large propagation distances of airgun noise, our results highlight the large-scale impacts that marine species are currently facing.
Highlights
Noise pollution is increasing globally, and as oceans are excellent conductors of sound, this is a major concern for marine species reliant on sound for key life functions
8,000 hrs of survey effort data was incorporated in the analysis (Fig. 1) including 1,020 hrs of control data and 6,980 hrs of seismic data (Fig. 1, Supplementary Fig. S1)
Baleen whale species were recorded on 395 occasions, and toothed whale species on 538 occasions during seismic surveys, and on 96 and 311 occasions during control surveys
Summary
Noise pollution is increasing globally, and as oceans are excellent conductors of sound, this is a major concern for marine species reliant on sound for key life functions. Similar effects have been noted by studies focused on toothed whale species; including displacement of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus), short-term displacement of harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) close to the noise source, and avoidance behaviours by Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis) in response to seismic noise[29,30,31] Notwithstanding this growing body of evidence supporting the negative effects of seismic surveys on cetaceans, most studies to date have focused on individual species, were carried out at relatively small spatial or temporal scales, and often lacked non-seismic-control data to accurately determine impacts[21,23,28,30,31,32]. This study is the first to combine cetacean surveys from seismic survey vessels with other cetacean surveys as control data, taking a multi-species, large-scale approach to examining the effect of seismic surveys on cetaceans, while accounting for the potential influence of spatial, environmental and temporal variables
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