This paper aims to find mechanisms to align commercial interests with underwater noise reductions from commercial shipping. Through a survey and a series of interviews with representative stakeholders, we find that while acknowledging the wide variations in ports' specificities, port actions could support the reduction in underwater noise emissions from commercial shipping through changes in hull, propeller and engine design, and through operational measures associated with reduced speed, change of route and travel in convoy. Though the impact of underwater noise emissions on marine fauna is increasingly shown to be serious and wide-spread, there is uncertainty in the mechanisms, the contexts, and the levels which should lead to action, requiring precautionary management. Vessels owners are already dealing with significant investment and operating costs to comply with fuel, ballast water, NOx and CO2 requirements. To be successful, underwater noise programs should align with these factors. Based on a multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) approach, we find a set of compromise solutions for a wide range of stakeholders. Ports could propose actions such as discounted port fees and reduced ship waiting times at ports, both depending on underwater noise performance. Cooperation between ports to scale up actions through environmental indexes and classification societies' notations, and integration with other ports' actions could help support this. However, few vessels know their underwater noise baseline as there are very few hydrophone stations, and measurement methodologies are not standardized. Costs increase and availability decreases dramatically if the vessel buyer wants to improve the noise profile. Local demands regarding airborne noise close to airports boosted global pressure on the aviation industry to adopt existing quieting technology. This experience of the aviation noise control could inform the underwater noise process.

This paper aims to find mechanisms to align commercial interests with underwater noise reductions from commercial shipping. Through a survey and a series of interviews with representative stakeholders, we find that while acknowledging the wide variations in ports' specificities, port actions could support the reduction in underwater noise emissions from commercial shipping through changes in hull, propeller and engine design, and through operational measures associated with reduced speed, change of route and travel in convoy. Though the impact of underwater noise emissions on marine fauna is increasingly shown to be serious and wide-spread, there is uncertainty in the mechanisms, the contexts, and the levels which should lead to action, requiring precautionary management. Vessels owners are already dealing with significant investment and operating costs to comply with fuel, ballast water, NOx and CO2 requirements. To be successful, underwater noise programs should align with these factors. Based on a multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) approach, we find a set of compromise solutions for a wide range of stakeholders. Ports could propose actions such as discounted port fees and reduced ship waiting times at ports, both depending on underwater noise performance. Cooperation between ports to scale up actions through environmental indexes and classification societies' notations, and integration with other ports' actions could help support this. However, few vessels know their underwater noise baseline as there are very few hydrophone stations, and measurement methodologies are not standardized. Costs increase and availability decreases dramatically if the vessel buyer wants to improve the noise profile. Local demands regarding airborne noise close to airports boosted global pressure on the aviation industry to adopt existing quieting technology. This experience of the aviation noise control could inform the underwater noise process.

Deep-sea ecosystems play a key role in the cycling and vertical transfer of matter and energy in oceans. Although the contamination of deep-sea demersal and benthic organisms by persistent organic pollutants has been proven, deep pelagic species have been far less studied. To fill these gaps, we studied the occurrence of a large variety of hydrophobic organic contaminants including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), legacy and alternative brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in crustaceans and fish species collected in the Bay of Biscay, northeast Atlantic. The results highlighted the global predominance of PCBs in fish, followed by OCPs, PFASs and PBDEs, with highly variable concentrations among species. Most of the chlorinated or brominated contaminants showed increasing concentrations with increasing δ¹⁵N values, while most PFASs showed inverse trends. The contaminant profiles and diagnostic ratios revealed species-specific metabolic capacities and peculiar contribution of highly-brominated BFRs.

Deep-sea ecosystems play a key role in the cycling and vertical transfer of matter and energy in oceans. Although the contamination of deep-sea demersal and benthic organisms by persistent organic pollutants has been proven, deep pelagic species have been far less studied. To fill these gaps, we studied the occurrence of a large variety of hydrophobic organic contaminants including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), legacy and alternative brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in crustaceans and fish species collected in the Bay of Biscay, northeast Atlantic. The results highlighted the global predominance of PCBs in fish, followed by OCPs, PFASs and PBDEs, with highly variable concentrations among species. Most of the chlorinated or brominated contaminants showed increasing concentrations with increasing δ15N values, while most PFASs showed inverse trends. The contaminant profiles and diagnostic ratios revealed species-specific metabolic capacities and peculiar contribution of highly-brominated BFRs.

International audience | Oceanic and deep-sea ecosystems play a key role in the cycling and vertical transfer of matter and energy in oceans. Their pelagic communities act as major components sustaining higher trophic level predators. Despite their location far from direct anthropogenic sources, deep-sea organism contamination by persistent organic pollutants has been proven, especially in demersal and benthic species. However, deep pelagic species have been far less studied, without mentioning contaminants of emerging concern. To fill these gaps, we studied the occurrence of a large variety of hydrophobic organic contaminants including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), various brominated flame retardants (BFRs), including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and their replacement substances BTBPE (1,2-bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)ethane) and DBDPE (decabromodiphenylethane), and finally per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in crustaceans and fish species collected in the deep pelagic waters of the Bay of Biscay, northeast Atlantic. The results highlighted the global predominance of PCBs (detection frequencies and concentrations) in fish, with mean concentrations of 54.42 ± 28.57 ng g -1 dry weight (dw), followed by OCPs (21.73 ± 21.26 ng g -1 dw), PFASs (11.95 ± 9.58 ng g -1 dw) and PBDEs (mean of 1.50 ± 1.12 ng g -1 dw). The concentrations showed moderate intra-species variability (21–38%) but were highly variable among species (43–87%). Total lipid contents were also highly variable (from 4.3% ± 0.9% to 51% dw in crustaceans and from 6.1% ± 0.1% to 41.9% ± 9.6% dw for fish) and showed little correlation with lipophilic contaminant concentrations. Most of the chlorinated or brominated contaminants showed increasing concentrations with increasing δ15N values, while most PFASs showed inverse trends. Hexa/heptachlorinated PCBs, DDTs and BDE-209 were the predominant compounds among chlorinated and brominated contaminants, while long-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) prevailed among PFASs in most species. The contaminant profiles and diagnostic ratios revealed species-specific metabolic capacities.