Understanding the legal development and challenges regarding underwater noise pollution in Spain and Norway

Noise is one of most important pollution that affects to human health, but in aquatic ecosystem its impact is higher than terrestrial. Noise is included in environmental acts only by sectorial mechanism but, in 2010, this vision changed. Ecosystem approach was incorporated in Spanish acts with first legal instrument for protecting from holistic perspective internal seas. From the European Union built news regulations about marine policies from ecosystem approach, with two essentials acts, Maritime Spatial Planning and Marine Strategies. In this paper, we analyse these mechanisms in Spain and Norway; we make a descriptive research about the legal mechanism for managing the underwater noise pollution generates by human activities. And we compare different mechanism to use with priority in these countries and we try to answer that if it is necessary to incorporate another instrument, such as an underwater noise licence, for any anthropogenic activity with to noise limits.