Abstract
Mitigation measures to disperse marine mammals prior to pile-driving include acoustic deterrent devices and piling soft starts, but their efficacy remains uncertain. We developed a self-contained portable hydrophone cluster to detect small cetacean movements from the distributions of bearings to detections. Using an array of clusters within 10 km of foundation pile installations, we tested the hypothesis that harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) respond to mitigation measures at offshore windfarm sites by moving away. During baseline periods, porpoise movements were evenly distributed in all directions. By contrast, animals showed significant directional movement away from sound sources during acoustic deterrent device use and piling soft starts. We demonstrate that porpoises respond to measures aimed to mitigate the most severe impacts of construction at offshore windfarms by swimming directly away from these sound sources. Portable directional hydrophone clusters now provide opportunities to characterize responses to disturbance sources across a broad suite of habitats and contexts.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 20220101 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Biology Letters |
Volume | 19 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 18 Jan 2023 |
Keywords
- Evasive response
- Mitigation measures
- Acoustic deterrent device
- Offshore windfarm
- Passive acoustic monitoring
- Phonotaxis
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Dive into the research topics of 'Directional hydrophone clusters reveal evasive responses of small cetaceans to disturbance during construction at offshore windfarms'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Datasets
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Directional hydrophone clusters reveal evasive responses of small cetaceans to disturbance at offshore windfarms (dataset)
Graham, I. (Creator), Gillespie, D. (Creator), Gkikopoulou, K. (Creator), Hastie, G. (Creator) & Thompson, P. (Creator), Dryad, 2022
Dataset
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Directional hydrophone clusters reveal evasive responses of small cetaceans to disturbance at offshore windfarms (code)
Graham, I. (Creator), Gillespie, D. (Creator), Gkikopoulou, K. (Creator), Hastie, G. (Creator) & Thompson, P. (Creator), Zenodo, 2022
Dataset: Software