title: JNCC guidelines for minimising the risk of injury and disturbance to marine mammals from seismic surveys: We can do better.
abstract: The U.K.'s Joint Nature Conservation Committee 1998 guidelines for minimising acoustic impacts from seismic surveys on marine mammals were the first of their kind. Covering both planning and operations, they included various measures for reducing the potential for damaging hearing - an appropriate focus at the time. Since introduction, the guidelines have been criticised for, among other things: the arbitrarily-sized safety zones; the lack of shut-down provisions; the use of mitigation measures that introduce more noise into the environment (e.g., soft-starts); inadequate observer training; and the lack of standardised data collection protocols. Despite the concerns, the guidelines have remained largely unchanged. Moreover, increasing scientific recognition of the scope and magnitude of non-injurious impacts of sound on marine life has become much more widespread since the last revisions in 2010. Accordingly, here we present feasible and realistic recommendations for such improvements, in light of the current state of knowledge.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA. Electronic address: marinebrit@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.affiliation: Wild Earth Foundation, Av de las Ballenas 9500, Puerto Pirámides, Península Valdés, Chubut, Argentina.
authors.forename: A Mel
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Cosentino
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D059001:Aquatic Organisms; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006309:Hearing; D008322:Mammals; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013016:Sound
keywords: Impact; Marine mammal; Mitigation measures; Noise; Seismic survey guidelines