Underwater Noise for Commercial Vessels: Develop a Plan before Finding a Treatment

Underwater noise is a growing concern for commercial vessels. As an example, efforts are already underway to reduce underwater noise and related impacts to Southern Resident Killer Whales (Orcas) in the Pacific Northwest. Groups like Transport Canada, Maritime Blue, Port of Vancouver, and others are investigating appropriate noise limits for vessels and strategies for ensuring noise levels are reduced. With this, there is a strong desire to identify treatments that can reduce underwater noise on existing vessels. Numerous “menu-style” lists of potential treatments have been compiled, but deciding which treatment to use is not trivial. Underwater noise reductions generally cannot be achieved through selection of a single treatment from a catalog. Rather than selecting treatments from a list, stakeholders should look to reduce underwater noise by choosing the right design approach. This approach would ideally be applied during design and construction phases, though post-construction design approaches can also be applied for existing vessels.