Dear Colleagues, We are pleased to announce an Open Access paper in Conservation Letters on the management of cumulative underwater noise pollution. Includes working examples with North Sea harbour porpoise and North Sea herring:
Merchant, N.D., Faulkner, R.F., Martinez, R. (2017) Marine noise budgets in practice. Conservation Letters. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12420 Abstract: Many 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 towards, 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. Kind regards, Nathan Dr Nathan Merchant Principal Scientist, Noise & Bioacoustics Team Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33 0HT, UK Tel: +44(0) 1502 527780 | Mob: +44 (0) 7789 651086 Email: nathan.merch...@cefas.co.uk<mailto:nathan.merch...@cefas.co.uk> [cid:image007.jpg@01D35FAA.80D4DFF0] https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=XPctSoUAAAAJ&hl=en https://www.cefas.co.uk/services/research-advice-and-consultancy/underwater-noise/ https://www.cefas.co.uk/media/52916/noise-bioacoustics.pdf Follow us on: [cid:image001.gif@01D09A11.D21ECDA0]<https://twitter.com/CefasGovUK>[cid:image002.gif@01D09A11.D21ECDA0]<http://www.linkedin.com/company/cefas> ________________________________ This email and any attachments are intended for the named recipient only. Its unauthorised use, distribution, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. If you have received it in error, please destroy all copies and notify the sender. In messages of a non-business nature, the views and opinions expressed are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of Cefas. Communications on Cefas’ computer systems may be monitored and/or recorded to secure the effective operation of the system and for other lawful purposes.