Over recent decades, human activities – such as shipping, offshore construction, and seismic surveys – have increasingly contributed to underwater noise pollution. Research has shown that this noise can have adverse physical, perceptual, and behavioural effects on various marine species groups, including mammals, reptiles, fish, seabirds, and invertebrates.
In 2022, on behalf of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Bluedot’s Founder, Neil Cousins, co-authored a technical series report that reviews the impacts of anthropogenic underwater sound on marine biodiversity and related mitigation approaches.
The report synthesises, at the time of writing, the best available knowledge relating to impacts and mitigation. This includes a critique of the evidence-base and identification of uncertainties.
