Assessment of echolocating cetacean (porpoise and dolphin) occurrence & behaviour in offshore development sites using a novel passive acoustic monitor

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Summary/Aims:Offshore wind developments contribute to increasing underwater noise pollution. This poses issues for marine mammals use sound for navigation, prey detection and communication. Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) detects the presence of vocalising cetaceans and exploits the broadband click vocalisations produced by odontocetes (dolphins and porpoises) for navigation and foraging purposes. Newcastle University has developed a proof of concept for a novel low-cost acoustically networked passive acoustic monitoring system, which transmit processed data of cetacean detections back to shore. The projects overall aim is to comprehensively assess the capacity of the NanoPAM system for monitoring occurrence and behaviour of porpoises and dolphins in relation to anthropogenic and environmental parameters at offshore wind energy developments. This will be divided into two research areas: (1) technical assessment of the NanoPAM system, and (2) assessment of echolocating cetacean's behaviour and occurrence.This will be achieved through the following objectives: (i) Conduct a literature review to characterise the soundscape of an offshore wind energy development, and highlight the potential impacts on cetaceans; (ii) Model the changes in the sound levels in the North Sea associated with changing vessel activity around offshore wind farms using Automatic Identification System (AIS) data and published literature on the characteristics of vessel sound; (iii) Deploy and test the performance of NanoPAM devices compared to devices currently used for PAM monitoring C/F-POD (www.chelonia.co.uk) and SoundTrap300 HF (www.oceaninstruments.co.nz); (iv) Deploy the NanoPAM system in Blyth Bay, Northumberland to assess occurrence and behaviour of harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) and common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in relation to vessel and other anthropogenic activities around the Blyth Offshore Wind Farm; and (v) Use the information from (i) to (iv) to make recommendations for how to improve the NanoPAM system and its application in assessment of potential impact from offshore developments.