Contribution of the ship radiated noises to the soundscape of the Bay of Calvi during the summer (original) (raw)

2016, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics

Located in Corsica, the Bay of Calvi is a natural environment sheltering protected species such as Tursiops truncatus, fishes (Epinephelus marginatus, Sciaena umbra) and invertebrates. This ecosystem is subject to a higher anthropogenic pressure during summer and becomes a privileged area for leisure and recreational activities. A flotilla of vessels of different sizes appears: jet-skis, zodiacs, sailboats (mainly used as motorboats), yachts, and ferries. An experiment in the summer of 2015 allowed the creation of a database of underwater noise from 190 vessels and the proposal of a method based on the estimation of Sound Exposure Level (SEL) to describe the soundscape of the bay, where the average time corresponds to the mean duration of these vessels' noises: 60 s. Due to high nocturnal fish activity, the mean SEL is similar during the day and night. The SEL between 7 am and 8.30 pm is higher than the maximum nocturnal fish noise during an average 8% for this period. Ship noise seems to have a limited effect on Tursiops and Sciaena umbra, according to the estimation of both M-weighted and dBht levels, and the biologists' observations during the research of the STARESO station.