title: The Use of Deep Water Berths and the Effect of Noise on Bottlenose Dolphins in the Shannon Estuary cSAC.
abstract: The Shannon Estuary on the west coast of Ireland is one of Europe's premier deepwater berths catering for ships up to 200,000 deadweight tonnage. It is also Ireland's only designated candidate special area of conservation for bottlenose dolphins under the EU Habitats Directive. Long-term static acoustic monitoring was carried out at a number of intensive shipping sites. In 2012, noise monitoring took place over a 6-month period (at 1 site) as part of Ireland's requirements under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). This is the first assessment of the potential effect of vessel traffic on the behavior of this discrete dolphin population.
authors.affiliation: Marine and Freshwater Research Centre, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), Dublin Road, Galway, Ireland. joanne.obrien@gmit.ie.
authors.forename: Joanne M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.affiliation: Marine and Freshwater Research Centre, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), Dublin Road, Galway, Ireland. suzanne.beck@gmit.ie.
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Beck
authors.affiliation: Shannon Dolphin and Wildlife Foundation (SDWF), Kilrush, County Clare, Ireland. simon.berrow@shannondolphins.ie.
authors.forename: Simon D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Berrow
authors.affiliation: Laboratori d'Aplicacions Bioacústiques, Centre Tecnològic de Vilanova i la Geltrú, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08800, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Barcelona, Spain. michel.andre@upc.edu.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: André
authors.affiliation: Laboratori d'Aplicacions Bioacústiques, Centre Tecnològic de Vilanova i la Geltrú, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08800, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Barcelona, Spain. mike.vanderschaar@upc.edu.
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van der Schaar
authors.affiliation: Marine and Freshwater Research Centre, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), Dublin Road, Galway, Ireland. ian.oconnor@gmit.ie.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.affiliation: Biospheric Engineering, Barna, County Galway, Ireland. eugene@biospheric.ie.
authors.forename: Eugene P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: McKeown
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D050681:Bottle-Nosed Dolphin / Q000502:physiology*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D063366:Estuaries; D005843:Geography; D007494:Ireland; D009622:Noise; D011312:Pressure; D012623:Seawater
keywords: LIDO; Marine Strategy Framework Directive; Noise monitoring; Shipping; Special area of conservation