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Monitoring and mitigation of sound exposure from seismic surveys for a feeding whale population
- Source: First Break, Volume 36, Issue 11, Nov 2018, p. 71 - 76
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- 01 Nov 2018
Abstract
Seismic surveys are an essential tool in the search for and periodic assessment of hydrocarbon deposits for oil and gas production. Airgun arrays, which are to date the overwhelmingly predominant sound source for these surveys, generate a high level of low-frequency pulses which can cause disturbance to marine life, particularly species with good low-frequency hearing such as baleen whales (Southall et al., 2007). Despite numerous studies (see Nowacek et al., 2007 for a review), substantial data gaps remain in terms of impacts of seismic surveys on cetacean physiology, behaviour and population dynamics. There is broad acceptance, however, of the need to mitigate the exposure of animals to noise from seismic surveys, especially for endangered populations or species (Nowacek et al., 2013).