Suggestion of Safety Level in Fish Farming by Impulsive Sound

Abstract

As for noise and vibration occurring due to construction near fish farms, engineering and the technical opinions of experts in different areas were excluded in calculating any damage. The victims tend to present only biological consulting-based opinions while construction companies tend to present information on general construction noise and vibration as they have little biological knowledge on fish. So, the National Environmental Dispute Medication Commission presented specific damage standard in 2009 through studies on standard in calculating compensation and damage assessment of farm-raised fish that were affected by noise and vibration. Currently, 140 dB re 1 μ Pa is accepted as damage standard of underwater noise in the country. This standard is the RMS value of continuous sounds for more than a second, not the impulsive sounds. To look up the data on existing studies, fish showed different reactions to underwater sounds according to the different kinds of fish such as ostariophysan or non-ostariophysan, and pinnipeds or non-pinnipeds. So, this study will present damage standards for impulsive sounds in consideration of the differences in the characteristics of the impulsive and continuous sounds.