Active Acoustic Monitoring of Aquatic Life

Active acoustic monitoring (AAM) can be used to study the behavioral response of marine life and to mitigate harm during high-danger anthropogenic activities. This has been done in fish studies for many decades, and there are now case studies in which AAM has been used for marine mammal monitoring as well. This includes monitoring where the ranges, AAM frequency of operation, and species are such that the AAM operation is completely outside the hearing range of the animals. However, it also includes AAM operations within the hearing range of marine life, although this does not necessarily that imply AAM is not a suitable tool. It is just not always possible to have a sufficient detection and tracking range and operate at a frequency outside the marine life hearing range. Likely, the best and most important application of AAM is when the anthropogenic activity to be conducted is temporary and presents a clear danger to aquatic life.