Member State report / Art8 / 2018 / D11 / Portugal / NE Atlantic: Macaronesia
| Report type | Member State report to Commission |
| MSFD Article | Art. 8 Initial assessment (and Art. 17 updates) |
| Report due | 2018-10-15 |
| GES Descriptor | D11 Energy, incl. underwater noise |
| Member State | Portugal |
| Region/subregion | NE Atlantic: Macaronesia |
| Reported by | DGRM |
| Report date | 2021-03-03 |
| Report access | ART8_GES_PT_setembro2020.xml |
Azores Subdivision (AMA-PT-SD-AZO)
GES component |
D11
|
D11
|
|---|---|---|
Feature |
Impulsive sound in water
|
Continuous low frequency sound
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Element |
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Element code |
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Element code source |
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Element 2 |
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Element 2 code |
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Element 2 code source |
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Element source |
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Criterion |
D11C1
|
D11C2
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Parameter |
Underwater sound level
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Parameter other |
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Threshold value upper |
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Threshold value lower |
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Threshold qualitative |
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Threshold value source |
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Threshold value source other |
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Value achieved upper |
103.1 |
|
Value achieved lower |
90.3 |
|
Value unit |
Other
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Value unit other |
DB re 1 ?Pa per unit area
|
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Proportion threshold value |
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Proportion value achieved |
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Proportion threshold value unit |
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Trend |
Unknown |
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Parameter achieved |
Unknown |
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Description parameter |
The results obtained by Romacosa et al. (2017) contribute to the enrichment of the little existing information for this criterion of D11 in the Azores. The above study showed that the monthly average levels of noise, in the 3 seamounts assessed, varied between 90.3 dB re 1 ?Pa (Azores) and 103.1 dB re 1 ?Pa (Condor), and that noise from maritime traffic was present in 13 % of the recording time in Condor. In addition, it was concluded that the average contribution of local vessels to background noise levels is almost 10 dB higher than the wind contribution, which may temporarily affect the intervals at which whales are called and make communication between them over long distances.
The percentage of time that the sound pressure levels (PSs ? sound assumed levels) was higher than 120 dB re 1 ?Pa was calculated using a model stating that marine mammals may be affected by noise if they are exposed to levels above this value (Romagosa et al., 2017
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Related indicator |
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Criteria status |
Not assessed |
Unknown |
Description criteria |
As stated in the report of the first cycle of the MSFD, delivered by the Azores sub-region, ?there is no information on noise levels in the Azores and its impact on animals?, which makes it possible to assess this criterion. An assessment of the frequency or intensity of human activities generating impulse noise or impacts on marine organisms cannot be made without mapping the sources and characteristics of noise, impact area and time period. In the Azores EEZ, pulse noise comes as a rule for port works and sporadic studies such as, for example, impulses generated by seismic surveys to map funds, and other studies. These include the two seismic surveys carried out by the Hydrographic Institute in 2016 which used a source of mass acceleration of the type Boomer AA200 of APPLIED Acoustic ENGINEERING, using energy that may vary between 100 and 300 J. Those activities are sporadic and one-off, and require an opinion or registration with the governmental authorities that have competence in the area. In the absence of any kind of monitoring of such activities, it is not possible to know whether or not there have been disturbances in the marine environment.
Thus, in the absence of monitoring and recording of such noise in the Azores subdivision, the absence of defined data and thresholds at European Union level for impulse noise levels (D11C1) do not make it possible to assess the good environmental State.
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Despite the progress made in collecting information for the assessment of Good Environmental Status (GES) for this criterion, it is not yet possible to do so. Additional measures (such as the implementation of monitoring programmes to measure noise over time and in various areas representing different densities of maritime trades and types of vessels) and modelling the spread of sound in other areas are necessary to produce a detailed sound analysis for the whole sub-region Açores. Furthermore, it is still necessary for Member States to define the specific essential thresholds for establishing the GES of Descriptor 11.
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Element status |
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Description element |
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Integration rule type parameter |
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Integration rule description parameter |
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Integration rule type criteria |
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Integration rule description criteria |
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GES extent threshold |
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GES extent achieved |
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GES extent unit |
Proportion of area in good status |
Proportion of area in good status |
GES achieved |
Not assessed |
Unknown |
Description overall status |
In the first evaluation of this descriptor for the subdivision of the Azores, it was described that the existing information on marine noise was very limited, whether at the level of environmental noise monitoring, or at the level of the recording of anthropogenic activities producing impulse noise. This lack of information made it impossible to assess the Good Environmental State for this descriptor. Until such reporting, despite the existence of some programmes and projects using autonomous submarines, in regions surrounding the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Azores, which could characterise marine noise around the region, the information gathered was not analysed in this sense. In this way noise has been indirectly characterised by the identification of its sources, endogenous or exogenous. The Azores archipelago is a major migratory habitat and area of food for a variety of whale species, such as blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), Balaenoptera physalus (Balaenoptera physalus) and sardinella borer (Balaenoptera borealis), which are directed to the waters of northern Atlantic. It is therefore of great interest that projects enabling the monitoring of underwater noise be developed so as to ensure that effective government measures are taken to guide human activities in these Azorean waters.
In this context of the MSFD it is still not possible to assess good environmental status, considering the lack of available data and thresholds, established at European Union level, for impulse noise levels (D11C1).
|
In the first evaluation of this descriptor for the subdivision of the Azores, it was described that the existing information on marine noise was very limited, whether at the level of environmental noise monitoring, or at the level of the recording of anthropogenic activities producing impulse noise. This lack of information made it impossible to assess GES for this descriptor. Until such reporting, despite the existence of some programmes and projects using autonomous submarines, in regions surrounding the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Azores, which could characterise marine noise around the region, the information gathered was not analysed in this sense. In this way noise has been indirectly characterised by the identification of its sources, endogenous or exogenous. The Azores archipelago is a major migratory habitat and area of food for a variety of whale species, such as blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), Balaenoptera physalus (Balaenoptera physalus) and sardinella borer (Balaenoptera borealis), which are directed to the waters of northern Atlantic. It is therefore of great interest that projects enabling the monitoring of underwater noise be developed so as to ensure that effective government measures are taken to guide human activities in these Azorean waters.
In this context of the MSFD it is still not possible to assess good environmental status, considering the lack of available data and thresholds established at European Union level for low frequency continuous noise levels (D11C2).
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Assessments period |
2012-2018 |
2012-2018 |
Related pressures |
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Related targets |
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Extendend Continental Shelf Subdivision (AMA-PT-SD-PCE)
GES component |
D11
|
D11
|
|---|---|---|
Feature |
Impulsive sound in water
|
Continuous low frequency sound
|
Element |
||
Element code |
||
Element code source |
||
Element 2 |
||
Element 2 code |
||
Element 2 code source |
||
Element source |
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Criterion |
D11C1
|
D11C2
|
Parameter |
Other
|
Other
|
Parameter other |
risk
|
risk
|
Threshold value upper |
||
Threshold value lower |
||
Threshold qualitative |
and the level of risk is low, given the absence of anthropogenic activities, GES is achieved.
|
and the level of risk is low, given the absence of anthropogenic activities, GES is achieved.
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Threshold value source |
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Threshold value source other |
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Value achieved upper |
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Value achieved lower |
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Value unit |
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Value unit other |
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Proportion threshold value |
||
Proportion value achieved |
||
Proportion threshold value unit |
||
Trend |
Stable |
Stable |
Parameter achieved |
Yes, based on low risk |
Yes, based on low risk |
Description parameter |
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Related indicator |
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Criteria status |
Good, based on low risk |
Good, based on low risk |
Description criteria |
The information collected from the authorities responsible for approving the economic activities and/or bodies responsible for approving the economic activities and/or the entities responsible for carrying out these activities in the performance of the tasks relating to the spatial and temporal distribution and associated sound pressure levels at source, which are listed in Annex D-5 of Part D of the subdivision of the continent, is not known about activities producing anthropogenic impulsive sound in the subdivision of the PCE.
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Between 2012 and 2017, the available acoustic data were collected on an ad hoc basis in the context of environmental impact assessments or local environmental impact assessments (e.g. the BIOMOORE project in the submarine catchment, Atlantis and Gorringe), but do not allow for a quantitative evaluation of this criterion.
However, it is considered, as in 2012, that the influence of traffic-based energy sources on maritime traffic on the benthic ecosystems of the PCE, given the very high depths to which they are, is considered to be very low or non-existent.
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Element status |
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Description element |
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Integration rule type parameter |
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Integration rule description parameter |
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Integration rule type criteria |
Not relevant
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Integration rule description criteria |
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GES extent threshold |
||
GES extent achieved |
||
GES extent unit |
||
GES achieved |
GES achieved |
GES achieved |
Description overall status |
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Assessments period |
2012-2018 |
2012-2018 |
Related pressures |
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Related targets |