Understanding the potential effects of pile driving sounds on marine wildlife is essential for regulating offshore wind developments. Here, tracking data from 24 harbour seals were used to quantify effects and investigate sensitivity to the methods used to predict these. The Aquarius pile driving model was used to model source characteristics and acoustic propagation loss (16 Hz–20 kHz). Predicted cumulative sound exposure levels (SELcums) experienced by each seal were compared to different auditory weighting functions and damage thresholds to estimate temporary (TTS) and permanent (PTS) threshold shift occurrence. Each approach produced markedly different results; however, the most recent criteria established by Southall et al. [(2019) Aquat. Mamm. 45, 125–232] suggests that TTS occurrence was low (17% of seals). Predictions of seal density during pile driving made by Russell et al. [(2016) J. Appl. Ecol. 53, 1642–1652] were compared to distance from the wind farm and predicted single-strike sound exposure levels (SELss) by multiple approaches. Predicted seal density significantly decreased within 25 km or above SELss (averaged across depths and pile installations) of 145 dB re 1 μPa2⋅s. However, there was substantial variation in SELss with depth and installation, and thus in the predicted relationship with seal density. These results highlight uncertainty in estimated effects, which should be considered in future assessments.
References
1.
Ainslie
, M. A.
(2010
). Principles of Sonar Performance Modelling
(Springer-Praxis
, Chichester, UK
).2.
Bailey
, H.
, Brookes
, K. L.
, and Thompson
, P. M.
(2014
). “Assessing environmental impacts of offshore wind farms: Lessons learned and recommendations for the future
,” Aquat. Biosyst.
10
, 1
–13
.3.
Bailey
, H.
, Senior
, B.
, Simmons
, D.
, Rusin
, J.
, Picken
, G.
, and Thompson
, P. M.
(2010
). “Assessing underwater noise levels during pile-driving at an offshore windfarm and its potential effects on marine mammals
,” Mar. Pollut. Bull.
60
, 888
–897
.4.
Bivand
, R.
, Keitt
, T.
, Rowlingson
, B.
, and Pebesma
, E.
(2014
). “rgdal: Bindings for the geospatial data abstraction library
,” R package version 0.8-16.5.
Bivand
, R.
, and Lewin-Koh
, N.
(2017
). “maptools: Tools for reading and handling spatial objects
,” R package version 0.9-2. Retrieved from https://cran.r-project.org/package=maptools (Last viewed 1 June 2018).6.
Breton
, S. P.
, and Moe
, G.
(2009
). “Status, plans and technologies for offshore wind turbines in Europe and North America
,” Renew. Energy
34
, 646
–654
.7.
de Jong
, C.
, Binnerts
, B.
, Prior
, M.
, Colin
, M.
, Ainslie
, M.
, Mulder
, I.
, and Hartstra
, I.
(2019
). “Wozep–WP2: Update of the Aquarius models for marine pile driving sound predictions
,” TNO Rep. (2018), No. R11671, The Hague, Netherlands, p. 94
. Retrieved from https://www.noordzeeloket.nl/publish/pages/160801/update_aquarius_models_pile_driving_sound_predeictions_tno_2019.pdf (Last viewed 1 August 2019).8.
Deeks
, A. J.
, and Randolph
, M. F.
(1993
). “Analytical modelling of hammer impact for pile driving
,” Int. J. Numer. Anal. Methods Geomech.
17
, 279
–302
.9.
DeRuiter
, S. L.
, Southall
, B. L.
, Calambokidis
, J.
, Zimmer
, W. M. X.
, Sadykova
, D.
, Falcone
, E. A.
, Friedlaender
, A. S.
, Joseph
, J. E.
, Moretti
, D.
, Schorr
, G. S.
, Thomas
, L.
, and Tyack
, P. L.
(2013
). “First direct measurements of behavioural responses by Cuvier's beaked whales to mid-frequency active sonar
,” Biol. Lett.
9
, 20130223
.10.
Faulkner
, R. C.
, Farcas
, A.
, and Merchant
, N. D.
(2019
). “Risk assessment of permanent auditory injury in marine mammals: Differences arising from the application of the Southall and NOAA criteria
,” Scottish Marine and Freshwater Science Report
(Marine Scotland Science, Edinburgh), Vol. 10, No. 1.11.
Finneran
, J. J.
(2015
). “Noise-induced hearing loss in marine mammals: A review of temporary threshold shift studies from 1996 to 2015
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
138
, 1702
–1726
.12.
Hastie
, G. D.
, Russell
, D. J. F.
, McConnell
, B.
, Moss
, S.
, Thompson
, D.
, and Janik
, V. M.
(2015
). “Sound exposure in harbour seals during the installation of an offshore wind farm: Predictions of auditory damage
,” J. Appl. Ecol.
52
, 631
–640
.13.
Hijmans
, R. J.
(2017
). “raster: Geographic data analysis and modeling
,” R package version 2.6-7. Retrieved from https://cran.r-project.org/package=raster (Last viewed 1 June 2018).14.
Iliffe
, J. C.
, Ziebart
, M. K.
, Turner
, J. F.
, Talbot
, A. J.
, and Lessnoff
, A. P.
(2013
). “Accuracy of vertical datum surfaces in coastal and offshore zones
,” Surv. Rev.
45
, 254
–262
. 15.
Kastak
, D.
, Southall
, B. L.
, Schusterman
, R. J.
, and Kastak
, C. R.
(2005
). “Underwater temporary threshold shift in pinnipeds: Effects of noise level and duration
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
118
, 3154
–3163
.16.
Kastelein
, R. A.
, Gransier
, R.
, Hoek
, L.
, Macleod
, A.
, and Terhune
, J. M.
(2012
). “Hearing threshold shifts and recovery in harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) after octave-band noise exposure at 4 kHz
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
132
, 3525
–3537
.17.
Kastelein
, R. A.
, Helder-Hoek
, L.
, Kommeren
, A.
, Covi
, J.
, and Gransier
, R.
(2018
). “Effect of pile-driving sounds on harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) hearing
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
143
, 3583
–3594
.18.
Mikkelsen
, L.
, Johnson
, M.
, Wisniewska
, D. M.
, van Neer
, A.
, Siebert
, U.
, Madsen
, P. T.
, and Teilmann
, J.
(2019
). “Long-term sound and movement recording tags to study natural behavior and reaction to ship noise of seals
,” Ecol. Evol.
9
, 2588
–2601
.19.
Nedwell
, J. R.
, Brooker
, A. G.
, and Barham
, R. J.
(2011
). “Measurement and assessment of underwater noise during impact piling operations at the Lincs offshore wind farm
,” Subacoustech Environmental Report No. E273R0203
.20.
NMFS
(2016
). “Technical guidance for assessing the effects of anthropogenic sound on marine mammal hearing: Underwater acoustic thresholds for onset of permanent and temporary threshold shifts
,” U.S. Dept. of Commer., NOAA. NOAA. Technical Memorandum NMFS-OPR-55, 178
pages.21.
NMFS
(2018
). “2018 Revisions to: Technical guidance for assessing the effects of anthropogenic sound on marine mammal hearing (Version 2.0): Underwater thresholds for onset of permanent and temporary threshold shifts
,” U.S. Dept. of Commer., NOAA. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-OPR-59, 167
pages.22.
Pebesma
, E.
, and Bivand
, R. S.
(2005
). “S classes and methods for spatial data: The sp package
,” R package version 2.01-40.23.
Porter
, M. B.
(2001
). “The KRAKEN normal mode program
,” SACLANT Undersea Research Centre, 207
pages. Retrieved from http://oalib.hlsresearch.com/Modes/kraken.pdf (Last viewed 1 October 2019).24.
Quick
, N.
, Scott-Hayward
, L.
, Sadykova
, D.
, Nowacek
, D.
, and Read
, A.
(2017
). “Effects of a scientific echo sounder on the behavior of short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus
),” Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.
74
, 716
–726
.25.
R Core Team
(2019
). “R: A language and environment for statistical computing
,” Vienna, Austria. Retrieved from https://www.r-project.org (Last viewed 1 October 2019).26.
Russell
, D. J. F.
, Brasseur
, S. M. J. M.
, Thompson
, D.
, Hastie
, G. D.
, Janik
, V. M.
, Aarts
, G.
, McClintock
, B. T.
, Matthiopoulos
, J.
, Moss
, S. E. W.
, and McConnell
, B.
(2014
). “Marine mammals trace anthropogenic structures at sea
,” Curr. Biol.
24
, R638
–R639
.27.
Russell
, D. J. F.
, Hastie
, G. D.
, Thompson
, D.
, Janik
, V. M.
, Hammond
, P. S.
, Scott-Hayward
, L. A. S.
, Matthiopoulos
, J.
, Jones
, E. L.
, and McConnell
, B. J.
(2016
). “Avoidance of wind farms by harbour seals is limited to pile driving activities
,” J. Appl. Ecol.
53
, 1642
–1652
.28.
Sehgal
, A.
, Tumar
, I.
, and Schönwälder
, J.
(2009
). “Variability of available capacity due to the effects of depth and temperature in the underwater acoustic communication channel
,” IEEE Ocean. 2009– Eur.
, 1
–6
pages.29.
Sharples
, R. J.
, Moss
, S. E.
, Patterson
, T. A.
, and Hammond
, P. S.
(2012
). “Spatial variation in foraging behaviour of a marine top predator (Phoca vitulina) determined by a large-scale satellite tagging program
,” PLoS One
7
, e37216
.30.
Southall
, B. L.
, Bowles
, A. E.
, Ellison
, W. T.
, Finneran
, J. J.
, Gentry
, R. L.
, Greene
, C. R.
, Kastak
, D.
, Jr., Ketten
, D. R.
, Miller
, J. H.
, Nachtigall
, P. E.
, Richardson
, W. J.
, Thomas
, J. A.
, and Tyack
, P. L.
(2007
). “Marine mammal noise exposure criteria: Initial scientific recommendations
,” Aquat. Mamm.
33
, 411
–521
.31.
Southall
, B. L.
, Finneran
, J. J.
, Reichmuth
, C.
, Nachtigall
, P. E.
, Ketten
, D. R.
, Bowles
, A. E.
, Ellison
, W. T.
, Nowacek
, D. P.
, and Tyack
, P. L.
(2019
). “Marine mammal noise exposure criteria: Updated scientific recommendations for residual hearing effects
,” Aquat. Mamm.
45
, 125
–232
.32.
Thompson
, P. M.
, Hastie
, G. D.
, Nedwell
, J.
, Barham
, R.
, Brookes
, K. L.
, Cordes
, L. S.
, Bailey
, H.
, and McLean
, N.
(2013
). “Framework for assessing impacts of pile-driving noise from offshore wind farm construction on a harbour seal population
,” Environ. Impact Assess. Rev.
43
, 73
–85
.33.
WindEurope
(2019
). “Offshore wind in Europe: Key trends and statistics 2018
,” Brussels, Belgium, 1
–37
pages.34.
Wolski
, L. F.
, Anderson
, R. C.
, Bowles
, A. E.
, and Yochem
, P. K.
(2013
). “Measuring hearing in the harbor seal (Phoca vitulina): Comparison of behavioral and auditory brainstem response techniques
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
113
, 629
–637
.© 2020 Acoustical Society of America.
2020
Acoustical Society of America
You do not currently have access to this content.