Abstract: Large amounts of legacy unexploded ordnance (UXO) are still present in the North Sea. UXO are frequently accidentally encountered by fishermen and dredging vessels. Out of concern for human safety and to avoid damage to equipment and infrastructure from uncontrolled explosions, most reported UXO found in the Dutch Continental Shelf (DCS) are detonated in a controlled way. These underwater detonations produce high amplitude shock waves that may adversely affect marine mammals. The most abundant marine mammal in the DCS is the harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), a species demonstrated to be highly sensitive to sound. Therefore, an assessment of potential impacts of underwater explosions on harbour porpoises was undertaken. Information regarding UXO cleared in the DCS provided by the Netherlands Ministry of Defence was used in a propagation model to produce sound exposure maps. These were combined with esti­mates of exposure levels predicted to cause hear­ing loss in harbour porpoises and survey-based models of harbour porpoise seasonal distribution on the DCS. It was estimated that in a 1-y period, the 88 explosions that occurred in the DCS very likely caused 1,280, and possibly up to 5,450, permanent hearing loss events (i.e., instances of a harbour porpoise predicted to have received suffi­cient sound exposure to cause permanent hearing loss). This study is the first to address the impacts of underwater explosions on the population scale of a marine mammal species. The methodology is applicable to other studies on the effects of under­water explosions on the marine environment.

Key Words: underwater explosions, harbour porpoise, Phocoena phocoena, hearing loss, marine acoustics, anthropogenic noise, Dutch Continental Shelf

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1578/AM.41.4.2015.503

Page Numbers: 503-523

Erratum Added in 2018 (44.3)