Continuous sound from a marine vibrator causes behavioural responses of free-ranging, spawning Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua).

Autor: McQueen K; Institute of Marine Research, P.O. Box 1870 Nordnes, 5817, Bergen, Norway. Electronic address: kate.mcqueen@hi.no., Sivle LD; Institute of Marine Research, P.O. Box 1870 Nordnes, 5817, Bergen, Norway., Forland TN; Institute of Marine Research, P.O. Box 1870 Nordnes, 5817, Bergen, Norway., Meager JJ; Natural Resources, GHD, 3 South Sea Islander Way, Maroochydore, Qld, 4558, Australia., Skjæraasen JE; Institute of Marine Research, P.O. Box 1870 Nordnes, 5817, Bergen, Norway., Olsen EM; Institute of Marine Research, P.O. Box 1870 Nordnes, 5817, Bergen, Norway., Karlsen Ø; Institute of Marine Research, P.O. Box 1870 Nordnes, 5817, Bergen, Norway., Kvadsheim PH; Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), PO Box 115, Horten, 3191, Norway., de Jong K; Institute of Marine Research, P.O. Box 1870 Nordnes, 5817, Bergen, Norway.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987) [Environ Pollut] 2024 Mar 01; Vol. 344, pp. 123322. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jan 09.
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.123322
Abstrakt: Marine vibrators are a new technology being developed for seismic surveys. These devices can transmit continuous instead of impulsive sound and operate over a narrower frequency band and at lower peak pressure than airguns, which is assumed to reduce their environmental impacts. We exposed spawning Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) to sound produced by a prototype, but full-scale, marine vibrator, and monitored behavioural responses of tagged cod using acoustic telemetry. Fish were exposed to 10 × 3 h continuous sound treatments over a 4-day period using a randomised-block design. Sound exposure levels were comparable to airgun exposure experiments conducted previously with the same set-up ranging from ∼115 to 145 dB re 1 μPa 2 s during exposure. Telemetry data were used to assess 1) whether marine vibrator exposure displaced cod from the spawning ground, through estimation of residence and survival probabilities, and 2) fine-scale behavioural responses within the test site, namely swimming depth, activity levels, displacement, and home ranges. Forty-two spawning cod were tagged prior to the exposure, with 22 present during the exposure. All 22 tags were equipped with pressure sensors and ten of these additionally with accelerometers. While no premature departure from the spawning site was observed, cod reacted to the exposure by decreasing their activity levels (by up to 50%, SE = 7%) and increasing their swimming depth (by up to 2.5 m, SE = 1.0 m) within the test site during the exposure period. These behavioural responses varied by sex and time of day. Cod reactions to a marine vibrator may be more pronounced than reactions to airguns, possibly because continuous sound is more disturbing to fish than intermittent sound at the same exposure levels. However, given sample size limitations of the present study, further studies with continuous sound are necessary to fully understand its impact and biological significance.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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