SOUNDSCAPE

Soundscape aims to promote cross-border technical, scientific and institutional cooperation to address assessing the impact of underwater noise and the consequences on marine fauna and the North Adriatic ecosystem. This cooperation should ensure effective protection of marine biodiversity and promote more sustainable use of marine-coastal ecosystems and resources. Descriptor 11 (D11) of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) emphasizes the need to monitor and manage underwater noise to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) of EU marine waters by 2020. According to a recent Report on Blue Growth Trends in the Adriatic Sea by “The MEDTRENDS Project,” however, there is a high risk that the GES related to underwater noise (D11) will not be achieved in the NAS by 2020. Indeed, at this stage, there are no extensive data on noise pollution in the area, and our knowledge of noise pollution and its impact on biodiversity is very limited. To date, Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) initiatives in this region (e.g., SHAPE, ADRIPLAN, ADRIATIC +) have therefore not fully explored the problem of noise pollution.

SOUNDSCAPE aims to fill this knowledge gap and implement a substantial technological upgrade in noise measurements and modeling in the area and information for MSP policies in the area . The project will make it possible to move from a situation of almost “no data available” to a modern network of continuous noise measurements and advanced sound modeling in the entire NAS area taking into account seasonality, spatial distribution of noise, and its impact biodiversity and marine fauna including endangered species (e.g. bottlenose dolphins, sea turtles).

The objectives of the project will be pursued in three ways: 1) Implementation of a shared monitoring network for regional coordination and transnational assessment of underwater noise in the NAS under art. MSFD, specific to the soundscape ecology of the EUSAIR region. 2) Assessment of acoustic impact on marine biological resources to protect biodiversity by assessing the acoustic diversity index in the NAS and raising public awareness of the impact of underwater noise. 3) Development and implementation of a planning tool for direct noise management
submarine
in accordance with the MSF and MSP Directives. Identification of measures, agreed with stakeholders, to mitigate the impacts of noise pollution on biodiversity while enabling sustainable development of the Blue Economy.