Evaluating and Assessing the Relative Effectiveness of Acoustic Deterrent Devices and other Non-Lethal Measures on Marine Mammals

Acoustic Deterrent Devices (ADDs) have long been used to try to keep animals away from human activities. They have been developed in the marine environment particularly to keep marine mammals away from fishing operations, aquaculture sites and more recently to keep marine mammals away from industrial operations that might be harmful to the animals themselves. Here we review the use of acoustic deterrent devices (ADDs) employed to try to deter animals from approaching specific sites, and address their advantages and disadvantages.

We also consider some of the alternative measures that are available to minimise conflicts between marine mammals and aquaculture in particular.

Aquaculture in Scotland is a major rural industry that accounts for nearly half of all Scottish food exports by value. Seals and aquaculture need to coexist, but some seals do attack caged salmon and can cause a significant amount of financial damage as well as stress to the fish, though the exact cost of this has not been calculated. The aquaculture industry has developed a variety of measures to try to minimise such damage.