The JPI Oceans Joint Action on Underwater Noise held its project’s mid-term meeting on 20-21 June in Padua, Italy, marking an important milestone in addressing anthropogenic noise pollution in marine environments. This initiative, spearheaded by Italy and Germany, involves five key projects running since 2022, each focusing on the impacts of underwater noise on marine ecosystems.
During the mid-term meeting, these projects got together to assess the advancements and outputs of each project against initial expectations, to strengthen collaboration between projects and to plan for impactful dissemination of results and stakeholder engagement.
The five projects progress presentations can be found below:
ORCHESTRA | ecOsystem Responses to Constant offsHorE Sound specTRA | Coordinator: Maarten Boersma, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (Germany)
DeuteroNoise| Characterization of maritime noise in different European basins and its impact on ecological relevant deuterostome invertebrates | Coordinator: Lucia Manni, University of Padua (Italy)
DIAPHONIA | DIagnostic framework to Assess and Predict tHe impact Of underwater NoIse on mArine species | Coordinator: Sandro Mazzariol, University of Padua (Italy)
SONORA | Filling the gap: Thresholds assessment and impact beyond acoustic pressure level linked to emerging blue-growth activities | Coordinator: Jaime Ramis Soriano, Universidad de Alicante (Spain)
PURE WIND | Impact of sound on marine ecosystems from offshore wind energy generation | Coordinator: Ana Širović, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, (Norway)
Angelo Camerlenghi, Vice Chair of JPI Oceans, reflected on the genesis of the Joint Action, the international context and the relevance of project results in relation to the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). On the latter, Jean-Noël Druon from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) outlined the role of JRC in supporting the implementation of MFSD. He concluded by encouraging project partners to persist in their large-scale data collection efforts of both impulsive and continuous noise and collaborate with species ecology experts to define disturbance level in relation to noise and estimate habitat loss.
A notable presentation was also delivered by Grace Smarsh, who coordinates the Ocean Decade Research Programme on the Maritime Acoustic Environment (OD-MAE). She discussed how OD-MAE is excited to hosts JPI Oceans funded projects on underwater noise, serving as a platform for advancing sustainable ocean acoustics. Furthermore, she presented the results of the joint exhibition “Listen to the Ocean” which was organised jointly with JPI Oceans’ funded project partners during the Ocean Decade Week in Barcelona, 9-12 April 2024.
The meeting also featured a science communication training course conducted by Pierre Strosser and Russell Arnott in the framework of the EU4Ocean Coalition, which connects diverse organisations, projects and people that contribute to ocean literacy and the sustainable management of the ocean. Each project appointed a communications representative to enhance outreach efforts. Several joint activities were proposed to strengthen the impact of this workshop. These include creating educational materials for local events aimed at students and children, developing strategies for engaging policymakers, and organizing webinars or podcasts for scientists.
The group agreed to organise joint science communication efforts and activities to build a long-term database, align lab experiments and contribute to the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) intercalibration and standardisation efforts on soundscape analysis. Among the meeting's main outcomes, the need for an improved policy interface was highlighted. In that regard, an international panel discussion titled "Quiet, please! Bridging Science and Policy on Underwater Noise" is planned for 18 October 2024 as a follow-up activity of the Ocean Decade Week in Barcelona. More information here.