UNDERSEA – UNDerwatER Soundscape bEyond AIS

The Croatian Natural History Museum participated in the first call for standard projects within the Italy–Croatia Cross-Border Cooperation Programme. Our project “UNDERSEA – UNDerwatER Soundscape bEyond AIS” was approved for funding and officially started in February 2024. The total value of the project is EUR 2.2 million, and the consortium includes eight partners. The Croatian Natural History Museum leads the activities related to the creation of a reference database of dolphin echolocation clicks in the Adriatic Sea and underwater sound recording in the South Adriatic Basin.

Project title: UNDERSEA – UNDerwatER Soundscape bEyond AIS (Underwater Soundscape beyond AIS)

Project code: ITHR0200399

Funding programme: Interreg Italy-Croatia 2021–2027

Duration: February 1, 2024 – July 31, 2026

Total budget: € 2,219,960.00

Croatian Natural History Museum budget: € 164,910.00

The UNDERSEA project is a joint initiative of eight partners from Croatia and Italy aimed at strengthening sustainable development in the Adriatic Sea area through enhanced international mechanisms for monitoring, assessing, and mitigating underwater noise pollution in accordance with the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Underwater noise pollution caused by human activities such as maritime transport, tourism, fishing, and marine resource exploitation may pose significant threats to marine ecosystems. Between 2014 and 2019, underwater noise levels in EU waters, especially in the Adriatic Sea, doubled, indicating an urgent need for action.

Building upon the foundations established by the SOUNDSCAPE project, UNDERSEA aims to establish a comprehensive underwater sound monitoring network covering the entire Adriatic Sea.

A major challenge in assessing the impact of maritime traffic is determining the distribution of recreational and small vessels that do not use the Automatic Identification System (AIS), making it impossible to track their movements and evaluate their contribution to marine noise pollution. The project will therefore conduct targeted experiments to estimate the noise levels generated by recreational and fishing vessels.

Using satellite data, the spatial distribution of small vessels will be determined, and tools will be developed to quantify their contribution to the overall underwater noise measured by recorders deployed at sea.

During the project, partners will deploy acoustic recorders at more than 15 locations across the Adriatic Sea, continuously recording underwater sounds over a one-year period in order to provide insight into the Adriatic soundscape.

To assess the risks of underwater noise on marine mammals, researchers from the Croatian Natural History Museum, in collaboration with researchers from the Blue World Institute, will analyze collected recordings to determine the presence of dolphins in the recording areas.

As sound recordings will be collected 24 hours a day over an entire year, automated methods are necessary for efficient extraction of relevant sounds — in this case, dolphin echolocation clicks. For this purpose, the project will create the first reference database of dolphin echolocation clicks in the Adriatic Sea, including sperm whales, Cuvier’s beaked whales, bottlenose dolphins, Risso’s dolphins, common dolphins, and striped dolphins.

The database will contain descriptions of the average click characteristics for each species, and the collected data will serve as a reference for species identification in underwater acoustic recordings obtained during project activities and future acoustic research.

Our goal is for the project results to establish new and innovative tools for cross-border management of the marine environment, coastal areas, and natural resources.

For additional information, please contact:

Assoc. Prof. PhD Draško Holcer, Senior Curator
Project Coordinator

Email: drasko.holcer@hpm.hr

PhD Renata Brezinščak, Museum Advisor
Communication Coordinator

Email: renta.brezinscak@hpm.hr

Partners:

Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR), National Research Council (Italy)

Blue World Institute for Marine Research and Conservation (Croatia)

Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (Croatia)

Regional Environmental Protection Agency of Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy)

Cetacea Foundation (Italy)

Regional Agency for Environmental Prevention and Protection of Apulia (Italy)

Public Institution for the Management of Protected Natural Areas of Dubrovnik-Neretva County (Croatia)

Croatian Natural History Museum (Croatia)

Project funded by: Interreg Italy-Croatia Programme

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News

The first partner meeting of the UNDERSEA project was held at the Institute of Marine Sciences (CNR ISMAR) in the Venetian Arsenal. Representatives of the Croatian Natural History Museum also participated, including project coordinator Assoc. Prof. PhD Draško Holcer and communication coordinator PhD Renata Brezinščak.

At the beginning of the meeting, partners were welcomed by Ms. Helena Brčić from the Interreg Italy-Croatia Programme Secretariat. Project coordinators then presented an overview of the project and administrative procedures aimed at ensuring efficient project management and reporting, while leaders of individual work packages delivered short presentations on planned activities.

During the second day, a Project Steering Committee meeting was held, followed by the first workshop on the installation and use of acoustic recorders. Among other topics, partners discussed calibration, maintenance, and deployment of passive acoustic recorders, as well as potential deployment locations.

Partners who had not previously used acoustic recorders in marine environments gained practical experience with the devices, including their programming and operation.