Subtle shift in groundfish depth distribution within the impact range of seismic surveying along a continental slope

The impact of an industry-based 3D seismic airgun survey on fish and zooplankton was investigated on offshore commercial fishing grounds in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Seismic surveying was conducted for 100 consecutive days by Petroleum GeoServices using the Ramform Titan seismic vessel during summer 2021. A seabed moored autonomous multichannel acoustic recorder measured sound levels while a wideband autonomous transceiver equipped with 38 and 333 kHz transducers measured fish and zooplankton backscatter in the water column. The distance between the seismic survey vessel and the instruments ranged from 0 to 152 km and was tracked continuously. Fish between depths of 50 m and 350 m exhibited a response to seismic surveying, descending to greater depths when the seismic vessel was within 60 km and when average sound pressure levels (SPL, using a 60-sec average over the band of 8.9-8900 Hz) were >122 dB re 1μPa². Conversely, no discernible effect on zooplankton abundance or beh..., Data was collected using Autonomous Multichannel Acoustic Recorder and upward-looking Wideband Autonomous Transceiver coorrdinating with commercial seismic surveying, , # Data from: Subtle shift in groundfish depth distribution within the impact range of seismic surveying along a continental slope

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.n5tb2rc63](10.5061/dryad.n5tb2rc63)

## Description of the data and file structure

**Fig. 2**. A 60-sec SPL in the band of 8.9-8900 Hz measured at the AMAR vs. the distance to the seismic survey vessel *Ramform Titan,* including the equation of the highly impacted area, ambient noise area, and break-point at 60 km.

**Fig. 3**. Daily changes in the backscatter (NASC) and centre of mass (CM) measured using 38kHz and 333kHz acoustic transducers, over the study duration.  

**Fig. 4**. The effect of seismic exposure on NASC (A), CM (B), PO (C), and AI (D) for 38 kHz and 333 kHz over distance from the WBAT to the seismic vessel.

**Fig. 5**. A predicted effect of seismic exposure on CM at 38 kHz over distance and SPL from the WBAT to the seismic vessel.

**Figure 6**. The effect of seismic exposure on target strength, speed, and ch...,