About project

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) (Directive 2008/56/EC) establishes a framework for community action in the field of marine environmental policy for Europe in order to achieve a Good Environmental Status (GES). In order to help Member States achieve GES, MSFD sets out eleven qualitative descriptors, which describe what the environment will look like when GES has been achieved. Descriptor 11 relates to underwater noise. JUMP project aims to implement stepping-stone actions to promote the discussion about underwater noise and its impact on marine environment and to develop tools to support the application of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, namely Descriptor 11. In alignment with those concerns, six specific objectives are defined:

1. To produce a catalogue of pre-existent underwater recordings and sound measurements in Portuguese marine coastal waters;
2. To characterize the (a) type and distribution of noise-producing human activities, (b) specificities of Portuguese marine waters and (c) distribution of acoustically sensitive species;
3. To provide a first snapshot of soundscapes and underwater noise along the Portuguese coast;
4. To develop sound propagation models for Portuguese waters;
5. To identify the specificities of underwater noise monitoring in Portuguese waters, to discuss future perspectives and to provide recommendations on best practices;
6. To increase stakeholders’ awareness on the maintenance of a Good Environmental Status for the marine acoustic environment and the need to regulate human activities at sea;

Activities

In order to achieve the specific objectives, project JUMP is organized in six work packages/ativities (WP). WP1 will deal with all the management and coordination aspects of the project, WP2 to WP5, will correspond to the technical work, and WP6 will consist of awareness-raising activities, dissemination and communication. The workflow of the project with synergies and interconnections between work packages are presented in the following figure.