Effect of anthropogenic noise on fish in the wild

Anthropogenic (man-made) noise (AN) has dramatically changed the acoustic environment in our marine and freshwater ecosystems.

Noise from e.g shipping, boating, and energy production, may dominate the underwater soundscape over very large areas, and has been recognized as a critical pollutant both globally and nationally.

Laboratory based studies indicate severe effects of AN on fish, including damage to hearing, disrupted behavior and physical stress.

However, laboratory studies has proven very limited in recreating realistic exposure scenarios reflecting those experienced by fish in the wild.

There is hence a large knowledge gap of the effect of AN on fish in nature, and this has hampered development and implementation of functional management solutions to regulate AN.

By using an innovative combination of fish remote sensing technology, together with newly developed unique experimental facilities allowing for controlled and replicated experiments at field scale, this project will investigate effects of AN on behavior and physiology of fish in the wild.

The project is the first to address complex behavioural endpoints of fish in the wild, and promise to greatly increase our understanding of AN as a pollutant.

The project is a collaboration between national and international expertise on AN pollution, fish remote sensing specialists, and acoustic engineers, and have built-in collaborations with regulating governmental agencies for implementation of results to management.