Eco-hydro-acoustic modeling and its use as an EIA tool Kate Rossington a , Tom Benson a , Paul Lepper b , Diane Jones a,⇑ a HR Wallingford, Howbery Park, Wallingford, OX10 8BA, UK b Sir David Davies Building, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire E11 3TU, UK article info Keywords: Underwater noise model EIA IBM Pile driving Marine species impacts abstract The effects of anthropogenic underwater noise on marine life is of growing concern and assessment of impacts on marine life is often carried out using predictive underwater noise models to map zones of influence for marine species. However, these models do not predict how a species may react to that noise. In this paper, the results from a modified predictive underwater noise model and a hydrodynamic model are used in an individual based model (IBM) to predict the impacts on cod (Gadhus moruha) from noise generated during a pile driving event at an offshore wind farm in Liverpool Bay, UK. The model included cod which were sensitive to noise and those which were insensitive (‘deaf’). Fish movement was from the outer bay into the Dee Estuary, a known feeding ground. The IBM indicated that the cod which could hear took up to 7 days longer to reach their destination than the cod which were deaf. This technique could be used during the consenting process for offshore projects to better understand the potential impact on marine species. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Human activities in coastal and marine environments are increasing as shipping increases, exploration for gas and oil depos- its expands and interest in extracting renewable energy from the marine environment intensifies (e.g. see Halvorsen et al., 2012a; McCarthy, 2000; Slabbekoorn et al., 2010; Wysocki and Ladich, 2005). In the European Union (EU) a commitment was made in 2007 to source 20% of the energy needed by the EU from renewable resources by 2020 (BVG, 2010; Inger et al., 2009; Scarlat et al., 2013). In the UK this has been implemented by encouraging the development of offshore marine renewable devices such as wind turbines and wave and tidal energy converters, as such this sector has rapidly expanded and The Crown Estate has planned to provide up to 33 GW of energy through marine renewable energy (BVG, 2010; Dolman and Simmonds, 2010; Gill et al., 2012). In addition to the testing, development and construction of the offshore renewable sites has led to the extension of existing port infrastruc- ture or the development of new ports to service the renewables industry. As a consequence of these activities the level of anthropo- genic underwater noise is increasing and the potential impact of this on marine life is of increasing concern (e.g. see Boyd et al., 2011 and references therein; Kight and Swaddle, 2011). Negative impacts of underwater noise on marine mammals have been investigated for some time (e.g. see Kastak et al., 2005; McCarthy, 2000; Nowacek et al., 2007 and references therein) and in recent years studies of the effects on fish and invertebrates have been increasing (e.g. see Caiger et al., 2012; Pine et al., 2012; Wale et al., 2013). Wale et al. (2013) showed that ship noise affected common shore crab (Carcinus maenas) feeding behaviour by decreasing foraging time when ship noise was present. Fish species have also been shown to increase their swimming speeds, move away from the sound source and to swim in more cohesive groups when underwater noise is detected (e.g. see Fewtrell and McCauley, 2012; Løkkeborg et al., 2012). More detrimental effects of underwa- ter noise, particularly from high intensity sounds, have been the permanent or temporary damage to a species ability to hear sound or other physical damage e.g. bursting of the swim bladder in fish, and potentially death (e.g. see Halvorsen et al., 2012a; McCauley et al., 2003; Popper et al., 2003; Popper and Hastings, 2009; Weil- gart, 2007). In 2008 the EU adopted the Marine Strategy Framework Direc- tive (MSFD) which aims to achieve a Good Environmental Status (GES) for European seas by 2020 (e.g. see Borja et al., 2010; Van Hoey et al., 2010). One of the indicators of GES is the level of under- water noise introduced to our seas with the requirement that it should not have an adverse effect on the marine environment (see Van der Graaf et al., 2012 and references therein). As such, the amount of underwater noise produced during the construction and operation of offshore renewable devices, including wind, wave and tidal, must now be considered as part of an Environmental Im- pact Assessment (EIA) (Bailey et al., 2010). In recent EIAs (e.g. see Gardline Environmental Ltd., 2009; Nedwell et al.,2010) the approach to predicting underwater sound levels at increasing distance from the source (and hence the impact on marine life) 0025-326X/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.07.024 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 01491 822330. E-mail address: d.jones@hrwallingford.com (D. Jones). Marine Pollution Bulletin 75 (2013) 235–243 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Marine Pollution Bulletin journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbul