Abstract
The focus of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM’s) Quieting Technologies for Reducing Noise during Seismic Surveying and Pile Driving Workshop was to examine current and emerging technologies that have the potential for reducing noise generated during certain ocean activities. Specifically, the Workshop considered technologies that have potential for quieting noise from geological and geophysical exploration, pile driving, and support vessel operations. A significant theme throughout the Workshop was the need for all regulatory agencies as well as the oil and gas industry, technology developers, and non-governmental organizations to work together to gain a better understanding of the specifics of emerging technologies. This will allow the oil and gas industry and the marine industry to better understand regulatory concerns for new technologies, follow timelines for future and pending permitting processes, and identify ways to conduct relevant environmental monitoring and field testing specific to their technology. It was noted that the coordination between industry and regulatory agencies has vastly improved over the past 10 years. This coordination is key to further improvements in technology development, establishment of the regulatory framework and mechanisms, design of environmental monitoring and field testing, and discussion of concepts and regulations to determine a path forward. One of the important issues identified was the lack of consistent acoustic terminology and noise measurement methods/standards. Standardized measurements would allow for scientific comparisons between and among data. Without this consistency, comparing various technologies or mitigation measures and their usefulness in quieting will be extremely difficult.