NESP MB Project C5 – Quantification of risk from shipping to large marine fauna across Australia

Research Project

Researchers: Peel, David (Principal investigator) ,  Peel, David (Principal investigator) ,  Peel, David, Dr (Principal investigator) ,  Peel, David, Dr (Principal investigator) ,  Emma Flukes (Point of contact)
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Brief description This record provides an overview of the scope and research output of NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub Project C5 - "Quantification of risk from shipping to large marine fauna across Australia". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata. -------------------- Given the substantial increases in coastal/port development along the Australian coastline, and associated increase in recreational and commercial shipping, there is an increasing potential for adverse interactions with marine species. Two risks associated with these activities for large marine fauna are ship collisions and the impact of chronic ocean noise. Research is urgently needed to quantify these risks in both a spatial and temporal context to help develop and implement appropriate management strategies. This project aims to provide directed science (species- and area-specific) to inform decision-making by the Department of Environment in its application of the EPBC Act. Planned Outputs • Initial scoping report of ship strike risk summarising what is currently known about species that were tentatively nominated as being at-risk for ship strike, the data available, shipping size/type data needed and recommendations on what species to investigate further with a qualitative ranking from easiest to most difficult. • AIS data base for the Australian EZ and initial processing protocols. • Full Australia-wide fine-scale shipping density and average speed maps for 2012 – present including information such as vessel length, beam and draft. This data will directly feed into future noise mapping. • A national map of approximate density of small vessel distribution based on available proxies such as population density, boat registration data and boat ramp locations. • A suite of distribution and density surfaces for the various species nominated during Phase 1; • Spatial and temporal risk profiles for selected species. The risk maps will range from full fine-scale maps when data is present, to coarse-scale ‘regions of concern’ for species where distribution data is limited to approximate extent. • An updated version of a database of ship strikes (historical and recent) within the Australian EEZ Report on national ship strike risk to the limits of current data and knowledge. • Report on our ship strike risk methodological developments • Report on initial shipping noise mapping • Report on the recommendations and findings of the 2017 workshop on chronic noise in the marine environment.

Lineage Maintenance and Update Frequency: asNeeded

Notes Credit
David Peel (CSIRO), Josh Smith (Murdoch University), Simon Childerhouse (BPN), Natalie Kelly (AAD), Jessica Redfern (NOAA), TJ Moore (NOAA)

Notes Credit
National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine Biodiversity Hub

Notes Credit
Department of the Environment and Energy, Australian Government

Notes Credit
In addition to NESP (DoE) funding, this project is matched by an equivalent amount of in-kind support and co-investment from project partners and collaborators.

Notes Purpose
The project will provide quantitative estimates of relative and, where possible, absolute risk of ship strike through space and time, based on the integration of data on (1) shipping type, density and speed (i.e., from AIS data) and (2) species distribution/habitat models. These estimates of risk can be used to identify areas and times when there is co-occurrence of at-risk marine fauna and shipping. Using known individual vessel speeds, it will be possible to provide an indication of where and how frequently lethal and/or sub-lethal interactions are most likely to occur. This quantitative assessment will provide the basis for making informed and accurate management decisions for example, mitigation strategies (including, but not limited to, recommendations such as speed reduction zones/times) could be implemented to minimise the impact of vessel strike on marine fauna. With respect to noise, this project will provide the first steps towards mapping temporal, spatial, and spectral characteristics of resulting shipping noise. These maps will use environmental descriptors and the distribution, density, and acoustic characteristics of human activities within Australian waters to develop first-order estimates of their contribution to ambient noise levels at multiple frequencies, depths and spatial/temporal scales. A similar exercise is presently underway for the USA and this project will build on lessons learned from that process (e.g., NOAA’s SoundMap/CetMap project for an example of sound mapping; see: http://cetsound.noaa.gov/sound-index).

Data time period: 2015-07-01 to 2017-12-31

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