Onderzoek naar de invloed van onderwatergeluid op vissoorten van de Noordzee : Reactions of North Sea fish species to underwater sounds in a wide frequency range

World-wide, underwater anthropogenic noise is increasing. To predict potential effects of man-made noise on marine fish, information is needed on the hearing sensitivity of fish for certain types of sounds. However, when a fish detects a sound, this does not mean that it will react to it. In most animals, sound needs to reach a certain sound pressure level before the behaviour of an animal is affected. In this study such threshold levels were attempted to be determined for eight fish species occurring in the North Sea: sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax), thicklip mullet (Chelon labrosus), pout (Trisopterus luscus), cod (Gadus morhua), eel (Anguilla anguilla), pollack (Pollachius pollachius), horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) and Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus).