Anthony D. Hawkins – författare

In this landmark new work, the major authorities in the field from around the world present a wealth of research data, coverage of regulatory issues, and thinking about the effects of man-made noise on marine mammals, turtles, amphibians, fishes, and invertebrates. The various themes of the book were chosen to cover the wide range of basic and cutting edge information on this topic. They include the hearing abilities of aquatic animals; communication by means of underwater sound; the description of aquatic soundscapes; different sound sources and their characteristics; the effects of sound on behavior; and assessing, mitigating, and monitoring the effects of aquatic noise. Emphasis is on the cross-fertilization of ideas and findings across species and noise sources.  With over 140 contributions from leading researchers, the sources of underwater sound and their effects are discussed in detail.

This Technical Report presents the outcome of a Working Group that was established to determine broadly applicable sound exposure guidelines for fishes and sea turtles. After consideration of the diversity of fish and sea turtles, guidelines were developed for broad groups of animals, defined by the way they detect sound. Different sound sources were considered in terms of their acoustic characteristics and appropriate metrics defined for measurement of the received levels. The resultant sound exposure guidelines are presented in a set of tables. In some cases numerical guidelines are provided, expressed in appropriate metrics. When there were insufficient data to support numerical values, the relative likelihood of effects occurring was evaluated, although the actual likelihood of effects depends on the received level. These sound exposure guidelines, which are based on the best scientific information at the time of writing, should be treated as interim. The expectation is that with more research the guidelines can be refined and more cells in the tables completed. Recommendations are put forward defining the research requirements of highest priority for extending these interim exposure guidelines.