Ocean Noise Strategy Roadmap Ocean Noise Strategy Roadmap Jason Gedamke, Jolie Harrison, Leila Hatch, Robyn Angliss, Jay Barlow, Catherine Berchok, Chris Caldow, Manuel Castellote, Danielle Cholewiak, Monica L. DeAngelis, Robert Dziak, Ellen Garland, Shane Guan, Sean Hastings, Marla Holt, Ben Laws, David Mellinger, Sue Moore, Thomas J. Moore, Erin Oleson, Jacqueline Pearson-Meyer, Wendy Piniak, Jessica Redfern, Teri Rowles, Amy Scholik-Schlomer, Aileen Smith, Melissa Soldevilla, John Stadler, Sofie Van Parijs, Charles Wahle ii Table of Contents Executive Summary 1 Chapter 1—The NOAA Ocean Noise Strategy and Managed Species 6 Chapter 2—Can You Hear Me Here? Managing Acoustic Habitat in U.S. Waters 27 Chapter 3—Enhancing NOAA’s Ability to Characterize Aquatic Soundscapes 45 Chapter 4— NOAA Ocean Noise Strategy Implementation Case Studies 60 Case Study 1: Assessing the Risk of Chronic Noise from Commercial Ships to 63 Large Whale Acoustic Habitat Case Study 2: Managing Noise Impacts on Spawning Areas Used by 81 Acoustically Sensitive and Commercially Important Fish and Invertebrate Species Appendix A— The Status of Science for Assessing Noise Impacts on NOAA-Managed 91 Species Appendix B— Presence, Abundance, Distribution, Density, Habitat Use and 113 Population Trends Appendix C— Spreadsheet of Potential Authorities (e.g. Statutes, Executive Orders) 121 to Address Ocean Noise Issues Appendix D— NOAA Ocean Noise Strategy Cross-Office Team 138 iii List of Figures Page Figure 1-1. Potential Consequences of Disturbance conceptual model of the relationships 11 linking disturbance to changes in behavior and physiology, health, vital rates, and population dynamics. Figure 2-1. Illustration of potential acoustically-mediated information in a marine 28 community. Figure 2-2. Overview of CetSound predicted low frequency average annual noise levels in 31 U.S. EEZ, summing contributions from a variety of human activities. Figure 3-1. Long-term spectrogram (5 years) illustrating repetitive seasonal changes in the 46 soundscape. Figure 3-2. An example of a 24 hour soundscape with component noise sources. 49 Figure 3-3. An example of a percentile noise spectrum. 49 Figure 3-4. Gulf of Mexico predicted average annual noise levels summing contributions 51 from (a) large commercial shipping, (b) passenger vessels, (c) seismic surveys, and (d) rig support vessel traffic. Figure 3-5. Acoustic Instrumentation: Moored instrument, and a towed array on the deck 52 of a ship. Figure 4-1. Waters off the southwestern United States, including the Channel Islands 64 National Marine Sanctuary, a Traffic Separation Scheme adopted by the International Maritime Organization, and three study areas used in our analyses. Figure 4-2. Habitat representations for (A) blue, (B) fin, and (C) humpback whales off 69 southern California. Figure 4-3. Southern California waters: (A) The number of transits by ships >200m and (B) 72 <=320m between August and November in 2009; (C) 50Hz predicted average noise levels at 30m depth; (D) 100Hz predicted average noise levels at 30m depth. Figure 4-4. Histograms of 50 and 100Hz predicted noise levels within the whale modeling 73 study area. Figure 4-5. Categorized noise at 50Hz is shown for (A) blue and (B) fin whale habitat, and 74 at 100Hz for (C) humpback whale habitat. Figure 4-6. Massachusetts Bay: (A) Proposed areas associated with spawning Atlantic cod, 82 juvenile Atlantic cod and both; Cod Conservation Zone (CCZ); large commercial vessel traffic; and boundaries of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary; (B) Instrumentation associated with 2014-2017 collaborative research to further identify spawning cod areas. Figure 4-7. Offshore North and South Carolina, South Atlantic Bight, U.S. 83 (A) Track of passive acoustic glider relative to two MPAs indicating red grouper sound detections; (B) Annual average predicted shipping noise and large commercial vessel density relative to EFH Habitat Areas of Particular Concern and Marine Protected Areas; BOEM planning areas for offshore energy development; U.S. Navy operating areas; research stations being used to study impacts to fishes associated with 2014 NSF seismic surveys. Figure 4-8. Inshore Cape Hatteras to Cape Lookout, Pamlico Sound, North Carolina. 84 (A) Known red drum spawning areas; (B) Vessel traffic snapshot (3 months); EFH Habitat Areas of Particular Concern iv List of Tables Page Executive Summary Goals and Recommendations Summary 5 Table 2-1. Prevalence and diversity of management approaches for all existing Marine 33 Protected Areas in U.S. EEZ as well as NOAA-managed or co-managed areas. Table 2-2. Examples of place-based tools that NOAA is or could be applying to acoustic 35 habitat science and management goals, assessed relative to their statutory authorities, scopes and outcomes. Table 3-1. Passive Acoustic Monitoring Capacity across NOAA offices 52 Table 4-1. Comparison of predicted 50 and 100Hz noise levels (August to November 2009) 71 to noise measured at two HARPS in November 2009. Table 4-2. Ranges of predicted 50 and 100Hz noise levels (reported in decibels) associated 71 with different volumes of shipping traffic. Table 4-3. The percentage of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary that 71 contained predicted 50Hz and 100Hz noise levels associated with different volumes of shipping traffic. Table 4-4. The percentage of each habitat type that contained predicted 50Hz (blue and 73 fin whales) and 100Hz (humpback whales) noise levels associated with different volumes of shipping traffic. Table A-1. Marine mammal hearing groups. 92 Table A-2. Summary of Marine Mammal Vocalizations 93 Table B-1. Summary of overall 2013 Tier ratings of assessment quality for marine mammal 115 stocks and ESA-listed species (fish, invertebrates, and sea turtles). Table B-2. Number of species with indicated population trends across taxa. 116 Table B-3. Number of ESA-listed species or Distinct Population Segments for each taxa 116 along with number of final critical habitat designations and recovery plans. Table B-4. Factors used in evaluating marine mammal stock assessments. 117 Table B-5. Factors used in evaluating ESA-listed fish species assessments. 118 Table B-6. Factors used in evaluating ESA-listed sea turtle species assessments. 119 Table B-7. Factors used in evaluating ESA-listed invertebrate assessments.. 120 Appendix C. Spreadsheet of Potential Authorities (e.g. Statutes, Executive Orders) to 121-137 Address Ocean Noise Issues. Appendix D. NOAA Ocean Noise Strategy Cross-Office Team 138 v EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OCEAN NOISE STRATEGY ROADMAP Ocean Noise Strategy Roadmap Executive Summary INTRODUCTION Increasing human activity, along more of the earth’s coastlines and extending farther offshore in deep ocean environments, is leading to rising levels of anthropogenic underwater noise. Increasing noise levels are impacting the animals that inhabit these places in complex ways and their ecosystems, including through acute, chronic, and cumulative effects. In the U.S., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the federal agency that is most responsible for protecting aquatic animals and their habitats, through a variety of legal mandates. NOAA’s approach towards further understanding and managing underwater noise should be multi-faceted. Numerous studies illustrate specific adverse physical and behavioral effects that exposure to certain noise types and levels can have on different species. Additionally, sound is a fundamental component of the physical and biological habitat that many aquatic animals and ecosystems have evolved to rely on over millions of years. In just the last ~100 years human activities have caused large increases in introduced noise and changes in soundscapes.1 These changes can lead to reduced ability to detect and interpret acoustic cues that animals use to select mates, find food, maintain group structure and relationships, avoid predators, navigate, and perform other critical life functions. Therefore, NOAA’s management goals and actions should aim to address chronic effects and conserve the quality of acoustic habitats2 in addition to minimizing more acute adverse physical and behavioral impacts on specific species. Here, we present the NOAA Ocean Noise Strategy (the ‘Strategy’) Roadmap. This document is designed to support the implementation of an agency-wide strategy for addressing ocean noise over the next 10 years. The Roadmap highlights a path to expand NOAA’s historical focus on protecting specific species by additionally addressing noise impacts on high value acoustic habitats3. Fundamentally, the Strategy Roadmap serves as an organizing tool to rally the multiple NOAA offices that address ocean noise impacts around a more integrated and comprehensive approach. A series of key goals and recommendations are presented that would improve NOAA’s ability to manage both species and the places they inhabit in the context of a changing acoustic environment. The Strategy Roadmap is not intended to be a prescriptive listing of program-level actions. Instead this document is intended to provide a cross-line office roadmap summarizing some of the essential steps that could be taken across the agency to achieve the Strategy’s goals for more comprehensive management of noise impacts. The information and guidance included in the Roadmap can strengthen the abilities of regulatory and science programs addressing noise impacts (including those with noise-producing operations) to meet their existing strategic goals and plans. Some