New report - Effect of naval sonar exposure on killer whales and humpback whales – 3S-2023

Posted on May 1, 2024

3S (Sea mammals and Sonar Safety) is a multidisciplinary and international collaboration studying how naval sonar affects cetaceans. The objective is to gain information necessary to effectively manage the risk to cetaceans without unnecessarily restricting naval sonar activities. Phase 4 of the project (3S4) started in 2023 with FFI, TNO, DRDC, Sea Mammal Research Unit and University of Iceland as the main partners. The project is funded by the US Navy Living Marine Resources research program, Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC), The Dutch Materiel and IT Command (COMMIT) and the French Government Defence procurement and technology agency (DGA).

This report summarizes the achievements of the 3S-2023 sea trial. The purpose of the report is to document the data collected and the target readers are our sponsors and the science team involved in data analysis. This report does not contain higher level analyses and interpretations of the data. Analysis of the data collected is still on-going and will be published in peer-review literature in the coming years.