Assisting cooperation for the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive on underwater noise
QUIETSEAS projectaims to support Member States authorities for the practical development of MSFD by providing tools and methods to facilitate underwater noise assessment and management in the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea
regions.
The project has 6 specific objectives, such as identifying relevant impact indicators (such as for marine mammals) for criterion D11C2 (continuous noise), promoting harmonisation of regional work on threshold values with TG Noise recommendations and demonstrating the effectiveness of coordinated measures to reduce shipping noise.
To reach the achievement of these objectives, it was settled to group them into 4 work packages (thematic blocks) and developed through 9 different activities by adopting the following work plan structure.
The settled thematic blocksare defined
as: 1. Indicators and thresholds: Indicators will be defined to propose a methodology for assessing the risk of impact due to underwater noise and establish threshold values. Once the methodologies are defined, its applicability will be tested in the Mediterranean and Black Sea Regions through the first exercise of GES assessment for impulsive and continuous noise in both regions. 2.
Coordinated (sub)regional assessments: Management tools will be developed to a) facilitate Competent Authorities the noise management, b) support the management, harmonisation, data sharing and reporting of continuous noise data, c) support the implementation of the monitoring programmes d) enable the preliminary assessment of the risk of impact on biodiversity by continuous noise sources, in particular marine traffic. 3. Measures: A practical exercise will be performed based on two cases studies to assess and quantify the effectiveness of corresponding potential joint measures that address the transboundary pressure caused by continuous underwater noise. One of them will be a multi-scenario of vessel speed slowdown. The other one will be the opportunistic activity-dependent scenario of traffic reduction created by the COVID-19 lockdown. 4. Subregional cooperation: The QUIETSEAS Project will continue reinforcing links among Sea Regions by performing specific capacity building events, training sessions and networking activities. It will pay special attention to the cooperation in the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea Regions, fostering cooperation between EU and non-EU Member States.
QUIETSEASProject aims to boost cooperation by reaching these outputs:
Recommendations on acoustic propagation modelling for continuous sound assessment.
Preliminary GES assessment of D11 underwater noise in the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea Region.
Best practices of subregional cooperation to set mitigation measures to address underwater continuous noise pollution.
Definition of regional specificities of a risk-based approach for continuous sound assessment in the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea regions.
Proposal of a methodology to establish threshold values for continuous sound in the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea regions.
Common operational tools to assist maritime decision making for a sustainable management of sensitive marine areas.
