Diagram 9.3. Impact piling noise propagation output, as a function of distance and depth, for a single pile example location along a southerly transect (see Appendix 9.1 for details on locations modelled) modelled within the East Anglia THREE site for a 3,500kJ hammer blow energy.
9.4.3.3 Criteria relating to the effect of underwater noise from pile driving 24.
For both marine mammals and fish, likely effects are assessed on the basis of risk of physical injury (hearing damage) and behavioural disturbance. These are presented as impact ranges and impact zones based on internationally accepted criteria and other state-of-the-art evidence available in the peer-reviewed literature, including empirical evidence based on observational studies.
25. 26.
The adopted criteria are considered in detail in Appendix 9.1, along with an extensive review of marine mammal and fish response to low-frequency, impulsive sounds.
For marine mammals, these include the criteria proposed by the NMFS Marine Mammal Criteria Group for pulse type sounds (Southall et al. 2007) supplemented with specific data for the harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena (Lucke et al. 2009), when considering piling noise, and in the context of empirical evidence obtained from observational studies (e.g. Brandt et al. 2011 and Tougaard et al. 2009).
27.
For fish, a generic injury criterion was implemented based on the interim fish injury criteria (proposed by the Fisheries Hydroacoustics Working Group (FHWG)) adopted by several states in the USA (Popper et al. 2006; Carlson et al. 2007; FHWG 2008; Oestman et al. 2009) and including recent work on exposure (Halvorsen et al. 2011). A recent study by the Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies
Preliminary Environmental Information May 2014
East Anglia THREE Offshore Windfarm
Chapter 9 Underwater Noise Page 8
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