Abstract
Acoustic monitoring of harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena L., 1758) indicated a strongly reduced disturbance by noise emitted by pile driving for offshore wind turbine foundations insulated by a big bubble curtain (BBC). This newly developed noise mitigation system was tested during construction of the offshore wind farm Borkum West II (North Sea). Because porpoise activity strongly corresponded to the sound level, operation of the new system under its most suitable configuration reduced the porpoise disturbance area by ~90%. Hence, for the first time, a positive effect of a noise mitigation system during offshore pile driving on an affected marine mammal species could be demonstrated.
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Acknowledgments
This work was funded by German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) Grant FKZ 0325309A/B/C. We thank all people on board the numerous vessels who helped collect the data in the field.
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Nehls, G., Rose, A., Diederichs, A., Bellmann, M., Pehlke, H. (2016). Noise Mitigation During Pile Driving Efficiently Reduces Disturbance of Marine Mammals. In: Popper, A., Hawkins, A. (eds) The Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life II. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 875. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2981-8_92
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