The demand for renewable energy has led to construction of offshore wind farms with high-power turbines, and many more wind farms are being planned for the shallow waters of the world's marine habitats. The growth of offshore wind farms has raised concerns about their impact on the marine environment. Marine mammals use sound for foraging, orientation and communication and are therefore possibly susceptible to negative effects of man-made noise generated from con- structing and operating large offshore wind turbines. This paper reviews the existing literature and assesses zones of impact from different noise-generating activities in conjunction with wind farms on 4 representative shallow-water species of marine mammals. Construction involves many types of activities that can generate high sound pressure levels, and pile-driving seems to be the noisiest of all. Both the literature and modeling show that pile-driving and other activities that generate intense impulses during construction are likely to disrupt the behavior of marine mammals at ranges of many kilometers, and that these activities have the potential to induce hearing impairment at close range. The reported noise levels from operating wind turbines are low, and are unlikely to impair hearing in marine mammals. The impact zones for marine mammals from operating wind turbines depend on the low-frequency hearing-abilities of the species in question, on sound-propagation conditions, and on the presence of other noise sources such as shipping. The noise impact on marine mammals is more severe during the construction of wind farms than during their operation.

/pdf/wind-turbine-underwater-noise-and-marine-mammals-54ysvpbdey.pdf

Wind turbine underwater noise and marine mammals: implications of current knowledge and data needs

The industrialization of the deep sea is expanding worldwide. Expanding oil and gas exploration activities in the absence of sufficient baseline data in these ecosystems has made environmental management challenging. Here, we review the types of activities that are associated with global offshore oil and gas development in water depths over 200 m, the typical impacts of these activities, some of the more extreme impacts of accidental oil and gas releases, and the current state of management in the major regions of offshore industrial activity including 18 exclusive economic zones. Direct impacts of infrastructure installation, including sediment resuspension and burial by seafloor anchors and pipelines, are typically restricted to a radius of approximately 100 m on from the installation on the seafloor. Discharges of water-based and low-toxicity oil-based drilling muds and produced water can extend over 2 km, while the ecological impacts at the population and community levels on the seafloor are most commonly on the order of 200-300 m from their source. These impacts may persist in the deep sea for many years and likely longer for its more fragile ecosystems, such as cold-water corals. This synthesis of information provides the basis for a series of recommendations for the management of offshore oil and gas development. An effective management strategy, aimed at minimizing risk of significant environmental harm, will typically encompass regulations of the activity itself (e.g. discharge practices, materials used), combined with spatial (e.g. avoidance rules and marine protected areas) and temporal measures (e.g. restricted activities during peak reproductive periods). Spatial management measures that encompass representatives of all of the regional deep-sea community types is important in this context. Implementation of these management strategies should consider minimum buffer zones to displace industrial activity beyond the range of typical impacts: at least 2 km from any discharge points and surface infrastructure and 200 m from seafloor infrastructure with no expected discharges. Although managing natural resources is, arguably, more challenging in deep-water environments, inclusion of these proven conservation tools contributes to robust environmental management strategies for oil and gas extraction in the deep sea.

/pdf/environmental-impacts-of-the-deep-water-oil-and-gas-industry-2rhh0p5l4b.pdf

Environmental Impacts of the Deep-Water Oil and Gas Industry: A Review to Guide Management Strategies

http://www.orcaaware.org/uploads/1/3/7/1/13714375/bailey_et_al_2010_assessing_underwater_noise_levels_pile-driving_offshore_windfarm_potential_effects_on_marine_mammals.pdf

Assessing underwater noise levels during pile-driving at an offshore windfarm and its potential effects on marine mammals

Offshore wind power provides a valuable source of renewable energy that can help reduce carbon emissions. Technological advances are allowing higher capacity turbines to be installed and in deeper water, but there is still much that is unknown about the effects on the environment. Here we describe the lessons learned based on the recent literature and our experience with assessing impacts of offshore wind developments on marine mammals and seabirds, and make recommendations for future monitoring and assessment as interest in offshore wind energy grows around the world. The four key lessons learned that we discuss are: 1) Identifying the area over which biological effects may occur to inform baseline data collection and determining the connectivity between key populations and proposed wind energy sites, 2) The need to put impacts into a population level context to determine whether they are biologically significant, 3) Measuring responses to wind farm construction and operation to determine disturbance effects and avoidance responses, and 4) Learn from other industries to inform risk assessments and the effectiveness of mitigation measures. As the number and size of offshore wind developments increases, there will be a growing need to consider the population level consequences and cumulative impacts of these activities on marine species. Strategically targeted data collection and modeling aimed at answering questions for the consenting process will also allow regulators to make decisions based on the best available information, and achieve a balance between climate change targets and environmental legislation.

/pdf/assessing-environmental-impacts-of-offshore-wind-farms-44ymi3gyxx.pdf

Assessing environmental impacts of offshore wind farms: lessons learned and recommendations for the future

Auditory masking of anuran advertisement calls by road traffic noise

This review highlights significant gaps in our knowledge of the effects of seismic air gun noise on marine mammals. Although the characteristics of the selsmic signal at different ranges and depths and at higher frequencies are poorly understood, and there are often insufficient data to identify the appropriate acoustic propagation models to apply in particular conditions, these uncertainties are modest compared with those associated with biological factors. Potential biological effects of air gun wilsnlwlu<kiphysical/physiological effects, behavioral disruption, and indirect effects associated with altered prey availability. Physical/physiological effects could include hearing threshold shifts and auditory damage as well as non-auditory disruption, and can be directly caused by sound exposure or the result of behavioral charges in response to sounds, e.g. recent observations suggesting that exposure to loud noise may result in decompression sickness. Direct information on the extent to which seismic pulses could damage hearing are difficult to obtain and as a consequence the impacts on hearing remain poorly known. Behavioral data have been collected for a few species in a limited range of conditions. Responses, including startle and fright, avoidance, and changes in behavior and vocalization patterns, have been observed in baleen whales, odontocetes, and pinnipeds and in some case these have occurred at ranges of tens or hundreds of kilometers. However, behavioral observations are typically variable, some findings are contradictory, and the biological significance of these effects has not been measured. Where feeding, orientation, hazard avoidance, migration or social behavior are altered, it is possible that populations could be adversely affected. There may also be serious long-term consequences due to chronic exposure, and sound could affect marine mammals indirectly by changing the accessibility of their prey species. A precautionary approach to management and regulation must be recommended. While such large degrees of uncertalnty remain, this may result in restrictions to operational practices but these could be relaxed if key uncertainties are clarified by appropriate research.

A review of the effects of seismic surveys on marine mammals

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A review of the effects of seismic surveys on marine mammals