Since 1994 the California Coastal Commission has been involved in reviewing the effects of anthropogenic noise in the marine environment on marine mammal, sea turtles, fish, and other marine life. The following links are to major Commission-adopted reports involving significant activities, research on and monitoring of the impacts of noise in California (and other) ocean waters.
Navy Sonar Testing and Training Program
Navy Research
NOAA-funded Research in Navy Training Areas
PG&E Diablo Canyon Seismic Survey
USGS Seismic Surveys to Map Offshore Earthquake Faults
Scripps Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate (ATOC) Project
In 2005 the Commission’s Chair was a member of the Marine Mammal Commission’s Advisory Committee, which was charged with making recommendations to the Marine Mammal Commission to: (1) Review and evaluate available information on the impacts of human-generated sound on marine mammals, marine mammal populations, and other components of the marine environment; (2) Identify areas of general scientific agreement and areas of uncertainty or disagreement related to such impacts; (3) Identify research needs and make recommendations concerning priorities for research in critical areas to resolve uncertainties or disagreements; and (4) Recommend management actions and strategies to help avoid and mitigate possible adverse effects of anthropogenic sounds on marine mammals and other components of the marine environment.
The Coastal Commission’s portion of the Report can be found here:
The Full Advisory Committee’s Report can be found here:
A. Marine Species Monitoring
B. Office of Naval Research
A. National Marine Fisheries Service
B. Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
C. West Coast National Marine Sanctuaries (NMSs)
Channel Islands NMS
Monterey Bay NMS
In 1996-1999, the Commission was involved in an interagency effort (including the State Lands Commission and the Mineral Management Service (now the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) which was convened to develop a process fore the review of high-energy seismic surveys (HESS) in state and OCS waters. The “HESS” team developed a report (the “HESS” report), the goal of which was to “… develop a set of potential mitigation measures for high energy seismic surveys proposed in the State of California and Federal waters within the Team’s proposed study area.”
