Pichegru Lorien, Vibert Laëtitia, Thiebault Andréa, Charrier Isabelle, Stander Nicky, Ludynia Katta, Lewis Melissa, Carpenter-Kling Tegan, McInnes Alistair
Institute for Coastal and Marine Research, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha 6001, South Africa.
Institute for Coastal and Marine Research, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha 6001, South Africa.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Nov 25;849:157878. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157878. Epub 2022 Aug 6.
The rapid increase in seaborn trade since the 1990s has resulted in an increase in vessel-derived noise pollution, yet there is little evidence linking these activities to a decline in many marine taxa, such as seabirds. Algoa Bay, South Africa, is a marine biodiversity hotspot, providing habitats for the largest populations of endangered African Penguins (Spheniscus demersus), as well as other endangered seabirds, cetaceans and seals. The bay is situated on a major shipping route and since 2016 has hosted the first offshore ship-to-ship (STS) bunkering operations in the country, i.e. the supplying of fuel from one ship to another outside of harbours. Using Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, we estimated noise emissions from vessels as a proxy for underwater ambient noise levels within the core penguin utilisation area. Frequency of vessels using the bay doubled during our study, with numbers of bulk carriers increasing ten-fold. Ambient underwater noise levels were generally high in the bay (ca 140 dB re 1 μPa since 2015) but significantly increased by 2 dB SPL after the initiation of STS bunkering in 2016, corresponding to double the underwater noise intensity. This increase coincided with a significant and dramatic decline by 85% in penguin numbers from St Croix Island since 2016. Algoa Bay is now one of the noisiest bays in the world. This is the first study to assess the potential impact of vessel-derived underwater noise levels on a seabird population. Penguins, like marine mammal species, are known to be sensitive to marine noise pollution and urgent management interventions are required to mitigate this recent disturbance, to preserve the remaining stronghold of the African penguin and the marine mammals' populations sharing the penguins' habitat.
自20世纪90年代以来，海上贸易迅速增长，导致船舶产生的噪声污染增加，但几乎没有证据表明这些活动与许多海洋生物类群（如海鸟）的数量下降有关。南非的阿尔戈阿湾是一个海洋生物多样性热点地区，为数量最多的濒危非洲企鹅（斑嘴环企鹅）以及其他濒危海鸟、鲸类和海豹提供栖息地。该海湾位于一条主要航运路线上，自2016年以来，该国首次开展了海上船对船（STS）加油作业，即在港口外从一艘船向另一艘船供应燃料。我们利用自动识别系统（AIS）数据，估计了船舶的噪声排放，以此作为企鹅核心利用区域内水下环境噪声水平的替代指标。在我们的研究期间，使用该海湾的船舶频率增加了一倍，散货船数量增加了十倍。该海湾的水下环境噪声水平总体较高（自2015年以来约为140分贝声压级基准1微帕），但在2016年开始STS加油作业后显著增加了2分贝声压级，相当于水下噪声强度增加了一倍。这一增加与自2016年以来圣克罗伊岛企鹅数量显著且急剧下降85%的情况相吻合。阿尔戈阿湾现在是世界上最嘈杂的海湾之一。这是第一项评估船舶产生的水下噪声水平对海鸟种群潜在影响的研究。企鹅与海洋哺乳动物一样，已知对海洋噪声污染敏感，需要采取紧急管理干预措施来减轻最近的干扰，以保护非洲企鹅的剩余据点以及与企鹅共享栖息地的海洋哺乳动物种群。
