Abstract
Noise pollution is a pervasive global pollutant impacting ecosystems. Increased ambient noise can affect marine faunas’ ability to communicate, feed, navigate habitats, and defend territories. There is a paucity of data describing inshore soundscapes and how sounds affect marine life in these areas. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are implemented to minimise impacts on marine life, yet they rarely consider the impact of sound from anthropogenic activities. MPAs have various management zones and rules, including ‘open’ zones, which usually allow most forms of fishing, commercial, and recreational activities, and ‘no-take’ zones, which prohibit the removal of any marine species from that area. This research compared sound levels among various open and no-take zones within the Port Stephens Great Lakes Marine Park, New South Wales (NSW), Australia, between April and May 2023 to determine if recordings from open zones displayed significantly more anthropogenic noise. Overall, median broadband sound levels showed a difference of less than 3 dB between management zones within a site. Boating was the main contributor to the differences in sound levels between these two zones. Despite these minor differences in sound levels between zones, no-take areas remain susceptible to noise pollution due to proximity to vessel channels and anthropogenic activities. This research is an important initial step for underwater soundscape assessments in NSW estuaries, establishing baseline sound levels for future monitoring of these systems.