From Documented Impacts to Cross-Taxa Perspectives: Towards a Framework for Assessing Vulnerability to Underwater Noise

Le résumé fourni par la source

The escalating threat of aquatic noise to marine life underscores the urgency of setting scientifically grounded underwater noise limits. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Descriptor 11 provides a policy lever to mitigate pressures arising from underwater noise. Achieving this goal requires that underwater radiated noise (URN) management shifts from a primarily pressure-based approach, focused on quantifying environmental sound pressure, towards a risk-based, ecosystem-oriented framework. This approach requires the selection of indicator species to relate noise vulnerability to impacts on populations. As part of the Interreg North Sea DEMASK project, the need for a multi-criteria framework for selecting indicator species from multiple taxa is introduced, with the overarching goal of assessing vulnerability to URN. The framework should combine a range of attributes related to the sound sensitivity and production of the animal, documented impacts of URN, and attributes describing the species’ general vulnerability related to life-history traits and socio-ecological status. Here, an overview of documented impacts of URN on mammals, fish, and invertebrates in the North Sea is presented, with the aim of motivating a multi-criteria, cross-taxa framework in selecting indicator species to support an adaptive and impact-focused vulnerability assessment.

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