Expert elicitation methods in quantifying the consequences of acoustic disturbance from offshore renewable energy developments

There are many developments for offshore renewable energy around the United Kingdom whose installation typically produces large amounts of farreaching noise, potentially disturbing many marine mammals. The potential to affect the favorable conservation status of many species means extensive environmental impact assessment requirements for the licensing of such installation activities. Quantification of such complex risk problems is difficult and much of the key information is not readily available. Expert elicitation methods can be employed in such pressing cases. We describe the methodology used in an expert elicitation study conducted in the United Kingdom for combining expert opinions based on statistical distributions and copula-like methods.