A large-scale experiment finds no evidence that a seismic survey impacts a demersal fish fauna

Seismic surveys are used to locate oil and gas reserves below the seabed and can be a major source of noise in marine environments. Their effects on commercial fisheries are a subject of debate, with experimental studies often producing results that are difficult to interpret. We overcame these issu...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 118; no. 30; pp. 1 - 9
Main Authors Meekan, Mark G., Speed, Conrad W., McCauley, Robert D., Fisher, Rebecca, Birt, Matthew J., Currey-Randall, Leanne M., Semmens, Jayson M., Newman, Stephen J., Cure, Katherine, Stowar, Marcus, Vaughan, Brigit, Parsons, Miles J. G.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 27.07.2021
Subjects
Acoustics - instrumentation
Animals
Biological Sciences
Commercial fishing
Ecosystem
Environmental Monitoring
Fauna
Fisheries
Fisheries - statistics & numerical data
Fishes - growth & development
Marine environment
Ocean floor
Population Dynamics
Remote Sensing Technology
Seismic surveys
Tropical fish
Western Australia
Western Australia
BRUVS
telemetry
community
MBACI
predatory fish
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Summary:Seismic surveys are used to locate oil and gas reserves below the seabed and can be a major source of noise in marine environments. Their effects on commercial fisheries are a subject of debate, with experimental studies often producing results that are difficult to interpret. We overcame these issues in a large-scale experiment that quantified the impacts of exposure to a commercial seismic source on an assemblage of tropical demersal fishes targeted by commercial fisheries on the North West Shelf of Western Australia. We show that there were no short-term (days) or long-term (months) effects of exposure on the composition, abundance, size structure, behavior, or movement of this fauna. These multiple lines of evidence suggest that seismic surveys have little impact on demersal fishes in this environment.
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Edited by William Hallowell Satterthwaite, University of California, Berkley, CA, and accepted by Editorial Board Member James A. Estes May 29, 2021 (received for review January 20, 2021)
Author contributions: M.G.M., C.W.S., R.D.M., R.F., L.M.C.-R., J.M.S., S.J.N., and M.J.G.P. designed research; M.G.M., C.W.S., R.D.M., R.F., M.J.B., L.M.C.-R., J.M.S., S.J.N., K.C., M.S., B.V., and M.J.G.P. performed research; M.G.M., C.W.S., R.D.M., R.F., M.J.B., L.M.C.-R., J.M.S., S.J.N., K.C., M.S., B.V., and M.J.G.P. analyzed data; and M.G.M., C.W.S., R.D.M., R.F., M.B., L.M.C.-R., J.M.S., S.J.N., K.C., M.S., B.V., and M.J.G.P. wrote the paper.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2100869118