Report of a workshop on fish behaviour in response to seismic sound held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada March 29-31, 2011

Published under the auspices of the Environmental Studies Research Funds NE22-4/190E-PDF Executive Summary i Executive Summary This report is a summary of the proceedings of a workshop held to discuss the design of stud- ies to assess the effect of seismic sound1 sources on fish behaviour held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. [...] The objectives of the 2011 Halifax workshop were: 1. to examine the current and future technologies required to assess the impact of Exploration and Production generated sound on fish behaviour that could lead to signifi- cant population effects or effects on fish catch; 2. to derive specifications for experimental design that include the hypotheses to be test- ed, the methods to be deployed, and [...] The background papers and most of the discussions throughout the workshop focussed on examining current and future technologies required to assess the effect of seismic sound on fish behaviour (Objective 1). [...] Fish Behaviour in Response to Seismic Sound Introduction 1 1.  IntroductIon This report is a summary of the proceedings of a workshop held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada to discuss the design of studies to assess the effect of geophysical survey seismic sound sources on fish behaviour. [...] With regards to survey design, workshop participants highlighted the following criteria: • the study must have control of the seismic vessel, not just operate in the vicinity of a seismic survey as a study of opportunity; • the need for a good description of the background conditions, such as other vessel noises and fish activity (feeding, spawning, migrating, etc.); • measurement of the exposure