1. Potential Effects of Underwater Sound on Double- Crested Cormorants in Dodge Pond, Niantic, CT Jennifer James and Heather Hopkins Mission Environmental Planning Program Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Newport U.S. Fleet Forces Data Gap Study

2. USFF Data Gap Study Funded by United States Fleet Forces (Navy) Research with little to no data U.S. Navy Application Our Study – Behavioral Impacts of Underwater Sound on Birds Naval Today 2012 Photo credit: Naval Today 2012

3. Bird Underwater Hearing ~820 marine bird species Dive 10 to 500 m underwater Underwater for 30 sec to 20 min per dive Sparse data on underwater hearing Previous hearing data was for long-tailed duck Alexander Safonov Photo credit: Alexander Safonov

4. The Need for the Data Environmental Planning ESA Section 7 Consultations Impossible to determine impacts Navy underwater sound –Sonar –Airguns –Construction (pile driving) Photo credit: Tim Zurowski

5. Methods - Location Dodge Pond Acoustic Measurement Facility –Navy owned property –Various sound sources Resident population of DCCO Accessible to researchers

6. Methods - Species Resident Population of DCCOs Dive 3 to 12 m to forage (Coleman 2009) Leave water after hunting is complete (Dorr 2014) Spend 66 min underwater per day (Coleman 2009) Photo credit: Henry Ausloos

7. Field Methods Behavior observed for 5 min intervals –Dive –Surface –Roost –Swim –Preen –Fly One observer, one recorder Duplicate observations unlikely Weather recorded after every observation

8. Current Data Baseline Data –Behavior when no sound is in the water –4 days; 99 observations Sound Data –Behavior when sound is in the water –8 days; 115 observations 87 Sound; 26 Airgun Most common was low frequency testing < 1 kHz Photo credit: Leon Turnbull

9. Preliminary Results Baseline Data –65% of DCCO dived Sound Data –43% of DCCO dived Airgun Data –46% of DCCO dived BaselineSonarAirgun

10. Preliminary Results Baseline Data –15 to 24 sec dives Sound Data –15 to 43 sec dives Airgun Data –17.5 to 17.6 sec dives BaselineSonar Airgun

11. Field Observations May Nesting Population –Diving for nesting materials Numbers declined over the summer Diving Behaviors observed declined –Coastal diet in summer –Pond for resting/bathing –Sound testing Photo credit: Vorrberger 2003

12. Implications Could underwater sound impact breeding? –Deterring individuals from nesting material –Decline in breeding success –Population impacts Photo credit: Birds n Bugs Blog 2014

13. Potential Applications Navy Testing Fishing Net Deterrence Pile driving impacts Fresh and saltwater construction –Wind turbines Photo credit: RI Offshore Wind

14. Future Efforts Another Field Season Observe captive populations in test tanks (scoters and long-tailed duck) Auditory Brainstem Response Compare results to other species West Coast research Photo credit: Randall Walker

15. References Coleman, J. T. H. (2009). Diving behavior, predator-prey dynamics, and management efficacy of double-crest cormorants in New York state. Doctor of Philosophy, Cornell University. Dooling, R. J., & Therrien, S. C. (2012). Hearing in Birds: What Changes From Air to Water. In. Popper, A. N. & Hawkins, A. (Eds.), The Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life (pp. 77-82): Springer Science and Business Media. Dorr, B. S., Hatch, J. J., & Weseloh, D. V. (2014). Double- crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus). The Birds of North America Online Retrieved from http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/441 as accessed on 19 November 2015. http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/441

16. Questions?