2021 State of the Environment Report Marine Chapter – Expert Assessment – Pressure – Anthropogenic noise

The Marine chapter of the 2021 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "Pressures on the marine environment - anthropogenic noise". 
<strong><em>A PDF of the full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided) is downloadable in the "On-line Resources" section of this record as "EXPERT ASSESSMENT 2021 - Anthropogenic Noise"</em></strong>



DESCRIPTION OF PRESSURE
The main anthropogenic activities generating noise in marine environments are geophysical surveys of sub bottom strata (seismic exploration using air gun arrays), sonars (military, scientific surveying, depth finders, fish finding echo sounders), explosions (military exercises, port construction), pile driving (construction of wharves, ports, coastal infrastructure), vessels (recreational, transport, national and international freight), dredging (port, harbour, shipping routes) and offshore platform activities (construction, operations and decommissioning) (Studds and Wright 2007). Seismic surveys in Australian waters have been concentrated in the main offshore oil and gas regions of the north west shelf and Bass Strait (see overview in the 2016 State of the Environment report; Evans et al. 2017), military sonar concentrated in designated maritime exercise areas such as the Western Australian Exercise Area (near Perth) and the East Australian Exercise Area (near Sydney) and pile driving in major port development areas (e.g. expansion of the Port of Melbourne (PoM 2020)). Noise generated by shipping is present around much of Australia with higher levels being generated long shipping lanes with higher densities of vessel traffic (see Peel et al. 2018 for an assessment of shipping distribution densities), with noise generated by coastal activities (such as port construction, inshore commercial vessels, recreational activities) concentrated in inshore regions adjacent to populated areas.  

DATA STREAM(S) USED IN EXPERT ASSESSMENT
National Offshore Petroleum Information Management System database (https://nopims.dmp.wa.gov.au/nopims) and records held by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA). Information on activities in state and territory waters were extracted from state and territory databases and/or provided by relevant state and territory departments (see below). 
Western Australia: Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety Petroleum and Geothermal Information (WAPIMS) https://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/Petroleum-and-Geothermal-1497.aspx 
Victoria: Earth Resources Regulation Annual Statistics Reports 2015-2016, 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2019-2020. https://earthresources.vic.gov.au/legislation-and-regulations/regulator-performance-reporting/annual-statistical-reports 
Tasmania: Department of State Growth Mineral Resources Tasmania Exploration Release Area (ERA) system. https://www.mrt.tas.gov.au/exploration 
South Australia: Department of Energy and Mining South Australian Resources Information Gateway (SARIG): https://www.petroleum.sa.gov.au/data-centre/online-databases/sarig; PEPS (South Australia): https://peps.sa.gov.au/ 

Shipping 
BITRE. (2019). Statistical report Australia sea freight 2016-17. Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development, Canberra, Australia. 

Naval operations 
Expert input from Navy Safety and Environment, Royal Australian Navy. 



2021 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details]

• 2021 •
Assessment grade: Low
Assessment trend: Unclear
Confidence grade: Limited
Confidence trend: Limited
Comparability: Comparable
• 2016 •
Assessment grade: Low-High impact
Assessment trend: Unclear
Confidence grade: Limited evidence or limited consensus
Confidence trend: Limited evidence or limited consensus
Comparability: Not previously assessed



CHANGES SINCE 2016 SOE ASSESSMENT
No change

Tags: anthropogenic pressures, expert assessment, noise, shipping
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network