OSPAR meets in Norway to discuss noise
ICG-Noise had its annual meeting on 29-30 November in Stavanger, Norway. Thanks to two EU-funded research programmes, JOMOPANS in the North Sea and now JONAS in the Atlantic Arc, some major advances are being made on ambient noise monitoring, which will support the development of a Common Indicator for the OSPAR maritime area. ICG-Noise discussed options for the indicator and how the legacy from the research programmes could be secured. ICG Noise also discussed how to provide its updated assessment of the impulsive noise indicator now that several years data have been collected, and agreed to submit to EIHA 2019 its proposal for a Common Indicator on impacts from impulsive noise. Several Contracting Parties also kindly volunteered to work on additional chapters for the inventory of underwater noise mitigation measures.
OSPAR's latest assessment on Impulsive Noise can be found here
Image:Pile driving operation with bubble curtain. Copyright: Trianel/Lang