Quantifying vessel noise and acoustic habitat loss in marine soundscapes
AUTHORS: B. Hendricks, M.K. Pine, G. Baer, M. Welton, H.K. Symonds, D.T. Dakin, H.M. Alidina, C.R. Picard i, J. Wray (2025)
PUBLICATION: Science Direct
ABSTRACT: Quantifying underwater vessel noise in marine ecosystems is challenging, due to difficulties in accounting for small, not publicly tracked boats, creating a knowledge gap in marine management. We present a computationally efficient framework that detects all vessel noise in hydrophone recordings and quantifies associated excess noise levels as well as acoustic habitat loss, offering a cost-effective and replicable tool for assessing vessel noise effects on marine soundscapes. Applied to one year of acoustic data from five sites along the coast of British Columbia (BC), Canada, the detector achieved 96.4 % accuracy and was robust against varying levels of vessel traffic and weather conditions. Across sites, vessel noise impacts increased with proximity to urban centers.
Following this trend, average annual vessel noise presence ranged between 24 % and 85 %, increasing the 500 Hz decidecade band by 1.0 dB to 6.4 dB across sites. The average year-round acoustic habitat loss for killer whales, expressed as the reduction of listening space in a 0.5–15 kHz communication band, ranged from 6.6 % to 46.9 %. Vessel noise impacts were generally higher during daylight hours and in the summer months. The results are the first comprehensive, empirical assessment of vessel presence and associated noise impacts for a regional ecosystem in BC.
Related Posts
Quantifying underwater vessel noise in marine ecosystems is challenging, due to difficulties in accounting for small, not publicly tracked boats, creating a knowledge gap in marine management.
In coastal British Columbia, Canada, marine megafauna such as humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) and fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus velifera) have been subject to a history of exploitation and near extirpation. While their populations have been in recovery, significant threats are posed to these vulnerable species by proposed natural resource ventures in this region, in addition to the compounding effects of anthropogenic climate change.
As marine traffic increases globally, ship strikes have emerged as a primary threat to many baleen whale populations. Here we predict ship-strike rates for fin whales Balaenoptera physalus and humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae in the central territorial waters of the Gitga’at First Nation (British Columbia, Canada), which face increases in existing marine traffic as well as new liquified natural gas (LNG) shipping in the next decade.
