Another new publication from us here at OSC – this time, a study conducted in 2022 that was released in April 2025, but didn’t get the attention it deserved at the time. This study focused on assessing the marine soundscape surrounding a newly installed North Sea gas production platform, and at two control sites 5 km, and 10 km away from the platform using Passive Acoustic Monitoring methods. Specifically, acoustic analysis of local fish communities was investigated to explore occurrence, richness, abundance, diel, and seasonal patterns of putative fish sounds surrounding the platform, along with determining the ambient noise levels found at each of the sites.
The study found that across all sites, the soundscape was dominated by continuous Underwater Radiated Noise (URN), primarily in the form of vessel noise. This noise was concentrated below 2 kHz (peaking around 300–500 Hz), with no detectable diel or seasonal fish choruses identified at any of the sites investigated. Acoustic richness of species remained extremely low (one to two types), and fish sound abundance did not exceed 1.3 sounds per minute. These results are congruous with what was hypothesised given the experimental design, platform age, and site within the North Sea.
The research team was fully comprised of OSC members, with two (now former) members of staff Marta Bolgan and Shireen Bhalla conceptualising the study along with leading research, data curation, analysis, and reporting, along with OSC managing directors Dr Victoria Todd and Ian Todd providing editorial support, resources and, project management and supervision.
This study provides valuable baseline data on the soundscape of novel offshore structures within the North Sea, along with providing a further insight into the fish assemblages surrounding these structures through usage of acoustic monitoring techniques. Furthermore, it highlights the need for a broader focus with regards to the environmental impact assessments of offshore structures, calling for the requirement to encompass threats such as marine noise pollution in the context of impacts it can pose to local marine communities.
The paper can be accessed in full and for free here. If you are interested in any other research OSC has carried out, our full publication list can be found here. As always, stay tuned for more of our upcoming releases, there are many more exciting publications to come!
