A recent publication by JNCC – JNCC guidance for the use of Passive Acoustic Monitoring in UK waters for minimising the risk of injury to marine mammals from offshore activities – is providing new guidance on the use of Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) as a tool to minimise the risk of injury to marine mammals from offshore activities.

Sounds generated from certain offshore anthropogenic activities have the potential to cause injury and disturbance to cetaceans and seals. In particular, the noise from activities such as explosive use, geophysical surveys and piling (the process of driving foundations into the bedrock to support offshore structures) could result in an injury offence such as permanent hearing damage as defined under UK regulations.

To help reduce the potential impacts of offshore activity, JNCC has developed a suite of mitigation guidelines through consultation with regulators and industry. These mitigation guidelines promote the use of marine mammal observers who are tasked with visual surveys of a location prior to the start of noisy activity. However, this is not always suitable for the detection of some species, such as deep-diving Beaked and Sperm Whales.