Data for: Small reductions in cargo vessel speed dramatically reduce noise impacts to marine mammals

Global reductions in the underwater radiated noise levels from cargo
vessels are needed to reduce increasing cumulative impacts to marine
wildlife. We use a vessel exposure simulation model to examine how
reducing vessel source levels through slowdowns and technological
modifications can lessen impacts on marine mammals. We show that the area
exposed to ship noise reduces dramatically with moderate source level
reductions that can be readily achieved with small reductions in speed.
Moreover, slowdowns reduce all impacts to marine mammals despite the
longer time that a slower vessel takes to pass an animal. We conclude that
cumulative noise impacts from the global fleet can be reduced immediately
by slowdowns. This solution requires no modification to ships and is
scalable – from local speed reductions in sensitive areas to ocean basins.
Speed reductions can be supplemented by routing vessels away from critical
habitats and by technological modifications to reduce vessel noise.

为缓解海洋野生动物所面临的日益加剧的累积性噪声影响，亟需在全球范围内降低货轮的水下辐射噪声水平。本研究采用船舶暴露模拟模型，探究通过减速与技术改造降低船舶声源级，可如何减轻对海洋哺乳动物的噪声影响。研究结果表明，仅需小幅降低航速即可实现的中等幅度声源级下调，便能大幅缩减船舶噪声影响覆盖区域。此外，尽管低速船舶通过动物栖息区域的耗时更长，但减速仍能全面降低对海洋哺乳动物的各类噪声影响。本研究得出结论：通过实施船舶减速，可快速降低全球商船队产生的累积噪声影响。该解决方案无需对船舶进行任何改造，且具备良好的可扩展性——可从敏感区域的局部航速管控，推广至全球大洋海域。可通过将船舶航线避开关键栖息区域，以及采用降噪技术改造船舶等方式，对减速措施进行补充完善。