Offshore Installation Activities and Marine Mammals’ Protection

Abstract

During installation activities of four platforms in the Italian sector of the northern Adriatic Sea, in addition to the technical performance, special attention had to be dedicated to the protection of marine mammals from the noise produced. Acoustic and visual methods were applied 24 hours a day during the months of installation to monitor the movement of marine mammals. Project installation activities, especially piling and mooring, raise underwater noise level concentrated in a relatively limited area, which can interfere with the normal life of marine mammals. The goal of the research conducted in the framework of this paper is to describe the working methodology, the measures of marine mammals’ protection and to present the final monitoring results.