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

摘要/目的：海上风力开发导致水下噪音污染增加。这给海洋哺乳动物使用声音进行导航、猎物探测和交流带来了问题。被动声学监测（PAM）检测发声鲸类动物的存在，并利用齿鲸类（海豚和鼠海豚）产生的宽带点击发声用于导航和觅食目的。纽卡斯尔大学开发了一种新型低成本声学联网被动声学监测系统的概念验证，该系统将鲸类动物探测的处理数据传输回海岸。该项目的总体目标是全面评估NanoPAM系统在海上风能开发中监测与人为和环境参数相关的鼠海豚和海豚的发生和行为的能力。该项目将分为两个研究领域：（1）NanoPAM系统的技术评估，以及（2）回声定位鲸目动物行为和发生情况的评估。这将通过以下目标实现：（i）进行文献综述，以描述海上风能开发的声景，并强调对鲸目动物的潜在影响; ㈡利用自动识别系统数据和关于船舶声音特征的出版文献，模拟北海与海上风力发电场周围不断变化的船舶活动有关的声级变化;（iii）部署NanoPAM装置并与目前用于PAM监测C/F-POD（www.chelonia.co.uk）和SoundTrap 300 HF（www.oceaninstruments.co.nz）的装置相比，测试NanoPAM装置的性能; ㈣在布莱斯湾部署纳米PAM系统，诺森伯兰评估港口海豚的发生和行为（Phocoena phocoena）和普通海豚（Tursiops truncatus）与Blyth海上风电场周围的船只和其他人为活动有关;和（v）使用（i）至（iv）中的信息就如何改进NanoPAM系统及其在评估海上开发潜在影响中的应用提出建议。

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.