OSPAR and underwater noise

OSPAR experts met for the first time with their HELCOM colleagues from the Baltic to discuss common challenges with monitoring both impulsive and continuous underwater noise, in Göteborg, Sweden. The meeting, which was held on the 3-5 October, considered the development of new indicators to understand the impact of impulsive noise on sensitive species and the development of monitoring programmes for continuous underwater noise from shipping. The first of a series of continuous noise monitoring projects in the OSPAR Maritime Area will start in the North Sea in January 2018. The JOMOPANS project, which is led by the Netherlands and co-finaced by the EU, contains partners from all the OSPAR North Sea Contracting Parties. The joint session considered common issue such as developing thresholds, impact indicators and the challenge of moving from monitoring projects to operation monitoring programmes. Both groups found the joint meeting extremely useful and it was agreed to host another in the near future.

OSPAR's first assessment of the distribution of reported impulsive sounds is now available online