The European Commission (EC) Directorate-General for Environment has set binding limits for underwater noise pollution (11 March 2024). The measures were developed in the context of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and should be used by Member States when they update their marine strategies under the MSFD, by October 2024. This follows previous recommendations from 2022 (see here). The Commission notice is available here; the annex to the notice sets the additional thresholds as follows:
| D11C1 Impulsive noise | For short-term exposure (1 day, i.e., daily exposure), the maximum proportion of an assessment/habitat area utilised by a species of interest that is accepted to be exposed to impulsive noise levels higher than the Level of Onset of Biologically adverse Effects (LOBE), over 1 day, is 20% or lower (≤ 20%). For long-term exposure (1 year), the average exposure is calculated. The maximum proportion of an assessment/habitat area utilised by a species of interest that is accepted to be exposed to impulsive noise levels higher than LOBE, over 1 year on average, is 10% or lower (≤ 10%). |
| D11C2 Continuous noise | 20% of the target species habitat having noise levels above LOBE not to be exceeded in any month of the assessment year, in agreement with the conservation objective of the 80% of the carrying capacity/habitat size. |
De Maribus 