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ESR 32:153-167 (2017)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00797

Theme Section: 21st century paradigms for measuring and managing the effects of anthropogenic ocean noise

Assessing the risk of chronic shipping noise to baleen whales off Southern California, USA

Jessica V. Redfern1,*, Leila T. Hatch2, Chris Caldow3, Monica L. DeAngelis4, Jason Gedamke5, Sean Hastings3, Laurel Henderson6, Megan F. McKenna7, Thomas J. Moore1, Michael B. Porter6

1Marine Mammal and Turtle Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries, 8901 La Jolla Shores Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
2Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, NOAA’s National Ocean Service, 175 Edward Foster Road, Scituate, MA 02066, USA
3Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, NOAA’s National Ocean Service, University of California Santa Barbara, Ocean Science Education Building 514, MC 6155 Santa Barbara, CA 93106-6155, USA
4Protected Resources Division, West Coast Regional Office, NOAA Fisheries, 501 W. Ocean Blvd. Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA 90802, USA
5Office of Science and Technology, NOAA Fisheries, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
6Heat, Light, and Sound Research, 1625 High Bluff Drive, Suite 211, San Diego, CA 92130, USA
7Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division, National Park Service, 1201 Oakridge Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525, USA
*Corresponding author:

ABSTRACT: Low-frequency noise that is part of the acoustic environment for baleen whales has increased in many areas of the Northeast Pacific Ocean that contain whale habitat. We conducted a spatially explicit risk assessment of noise from commercial shipping to blue, fin, and humpback whale habitats in Southern California waters and explored how noise is affected by several place-based management techniques: a National Marine Sanctuary, an Area to be Avoided (ATBA), and a Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS). We used shipping data to model noise at 2 frequencies that are part of the acoustic environment for these species and capture the variable contributions from shipping to noise. Predicted noise levels in Southern California waters suggest high, region-wide exposure to shipping noise. Our risk assessment identified several areas where the acoustic environment may be degraded for blue, fin, and humpback whales because their habitat overlaps with areas of elevated noise from shipping traffic and 2 places where blue and humpback whale feeding areas overlap with lower predicted noise levels. One of the places with lower predicted noise occurs in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS). Noise has not been directly managed within the CINMS; instead, reduced noise in this portion of the CINMS is likely an ancillary benefit of the ATBA surrounding most of the Sanctuary. Areas of elevated noise in the CINMS also occur, primarily where a TSS intersects the Sanctuary’s boundaries. Our risk assessment framework can be used to evaluate how shipping traffic affects acoustic environments and explore management strategies.


KEY WORDS: Anthropogenic noise · Risk assessment · Habitat modeling · Automatic Identification System (AIS) data · Commercial shipping


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Cite this article as: Redfern JV, Hatch LT, Caldow C, DeAngelis ML and others (2017) Assessing the risk of chronic shipping noise to baleen whales off Southern California, USA. Endang Species Res 32:153-167. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00797

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Published in ESR Vol. 32. Online publication date: February 23, 2017
Print ISSN: 1863-5407; Online ISSN: 1613-4796
Copyright © 2017 Inter-Research.
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