The Committee on the Assessment of the Cumulative Effects of Anthropogenic Stressors on Marine Mammals; Ocean Studies Board; Division on Earth and Life Studies; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has published its report entitled “Approaches to Understanding the Cumulative Effects of Stressors on Marine Mammals.” This NAS report was funded by The Office of Naval Research, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission. Its purpose is to review the understanding of cumulative effects of anthropogenic stressors, including sound, on marine mammals and to identify new approaches that may improve the ability to estimate cumulative effects.”
This NAS report made the following recommendations:
“Recommendation: Uncertainties about animal densities, sound propagation, and effects should be translated into uncertainty on take estimates, for example through stochastic simulation….
Recommendation: Additional research will be necessary to establish the probabilistic relationships between exposure to sound, contextual factors, and severity of response.”
