Turning up the volume: Five projects on ‘Underwater noise in the Marine Environment’ awarded funding
The projects are coming in the wake of a JPI Oceans call establishing a unique collaboration between Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania and Spain together with BANOS, BlueMed, NOAA and the UN Ocean Decade.
In the first phase, thirteen project proposals involving partners from all eight participating countries were received. The proposals were evaluated by independent, international peer reviewers and ranked by an evaluation panel. On this basis, the Call Steering Committee selected five projects for funding.
The projects revolve around two themes:
- The effects of anthropogenic noise pollution on marine ecosystems
- The development of innovative seismic sources as quieter and effective alternatives to conventional marine geophysical exploration
The selected projects are:
- ORCHESTRA | Coordinator: Maarten Boersma, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (Germany)
- DeuteroNoise*| Coordinator: Lucia Manni, University of Padua (Italy)
- DIAPHONIA | Coordinator: Sandro Mazzariol, University of Padua (Italy)
- SONORA | Coordinator: Jaime Ramis Soriano, Universidad de Alicante (Spain)
- PURE WIND | Coordinator: Ana Širović, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
The projects are endorsed as a contribution to the UN Ocean decade and will start their work by the end of 2022.
Background
Mankind is noisy by nature, and the impact of noise on human societies seems well known. With growing environmental awareness, our society – scientific researchers, NGOs, policy makers, and citizens – recognizes anthropogenic noise as an emerging pollutant and growing concern for subaquatic environments. Underwater acoustic pollution impacts on the health of marine animal populations and biological productivity.
Therefore, in December 2021, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania and Spain under the framework of JPI Oceans and together with endorsements by BANOS, BlueMed, NOAA and the UN Ocean Decade, launched a call on 'Underwater Noise in the Marine Environment'. The overall aim is to decrease existing knowledge gaps and to promote specific lines of research that will contribute to the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive at regional sub-basin scale, and, therewith, contributing to reach the Good Environmental Status of the European seas and oceans.
*Funding for Romanian partners in the DeuteroNoise project is pending approval.