Assessing vessel slowdown for reducing auditory masking for marine mammals and fish of the western Canadian Arctic

MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN

卷:135

Article

Pine, Matthew K.^1,2  Hannay, David E.³  Insley, Stephen J.^1,2  Halliday, William D.^1,2  Juanes, Francis¹ 

[1] Univ Victoria, Dept Biol, Victoria, BC, Canada

[2] Wildlife Conservat Soc Canada, Whitehorse, YT, Canada

[3] JASCO Appl Sci, Victoria, BC, Canada

关键词: Underwater sound;    Noise;    Shipping;    Marine mammal;    Fish;    Listening space;    Masking;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.07.031

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Vessel slowdown may be an alternative mitigation option in regions where re-routing shipping corridors to avoid important marine mammal habitat is not possible. We investigated the potential relief in masking in marine mammals and fish from a 10 knot speed reduction of container and cruise ships. The mitigation effect from slower vessels was not equal between ambient sound conditions, species or vessel-type. Under quiet ambient conditions, a speed reduction from 25 to 15 knots resulted in smaller listening space reductions by 16-23%, 10-18%, 1-2%, 5-8% and 8% respectively for belugas, bowheads, bearded seals, ringed seals, and fish, depending on vessel-type. However, under noisy conditions, those savings were between 9 and 19% more, depending on the species. This was due to the differences in species' hearing sensitivities and the low ambient sound levels measured in the study region. Vessel slowdown could be an effective mitigation strategy for reducing masking.

【 授权许可】

Free