Jorgenson John K, Gyselman Eric C
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 501 University Crescent, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2009 Sep;126(3):1598-606. doi: 10.1121/1.3177276.
Seismic surveys for hydrocarbon exploration in the Mackenzie River involve the use of airguns. Airguns produce a repetitive, intense, low-frequency sound that has the potential to cause physiological damage and behavioral changes in fishes. Some of these impacts have been documented in marine environments but few studies have been conducted in freshwater systems where the confining nature of the environment produces a different acoustic regime and could constrain possible fish response. In the current study, hydroacoustic surveys are conducted in the presence of airgun firing in the Mackenzie River to determine if fish behavior can mitigate or enhance the potential impact of this sound. It is shown that fish behavioral characteristics measured in this study are generally not changed by the presence of airgun noise. The most likely mechanism to facilitate a severe physiological effect in fishes from a mobile airgun firing is a herding response in front of the airgun, resulting in prolonged exposure to the noise. Analysis of tracked fish directional movement does not indicate that herding behavior occurs. Consequently, no evidence is found to indicate that fishes in this study would sustain severe physiological damage from this airgun seismic survey.
在麦肯齐河进行的用于油气勘探的地震勘探涉及气枪的使用。气枪会产生重复、强烈的低频声音，这种声音有可能对鱼类造成生理损害和行为变化。其中一些影响已在海洋环境中得到记录，但在淡水系统中进行的研究很少，因为淡水环境的封闭性质会产生不同的声学环境，并且可能限制鱼类可能的反应。在当前的研究中，在麦肯齐河气枪射击的情况下进行了水声调查，以确定鱼类行为是否可以减轻或增强这种声音的潜在影响。结果表明，本研究中测量的鱼类行为特征通常不会因气枪噪声的存在而改变。移动气枪射击对鱼类造成严重生理影响的最可能机制是气枪前方的聚群反应，导致鱼类长时间暴露在噪声中。对跟踪的鱼类定向运动的分析并未表明存在聚群行为。因此，没有证据表明本研究中的鱼类会因这种气枪地震勘探而遭受严重的生理损害。
