Effect of Boat Noise Pollution on Biodiversity in Boca Ciega Bay

Assessment of human impact on biodiversity is a vital part of global conservation efforts. For species that rely on hearing, noise pollution is a concern in areas frequented by humans. Personal and fishing vessels are frequently used in Boca Ciega Bay, and are a source of substantial noise pollution. The effect of boat traffic on the abundance and diversity of nearshore fish species were quantified using weekly seine net tows and associated underwater audio recording with hydrophone. Collected fish were photographed, released, and later identified. Audio samples were assessed by spectrogram in Audacity for number of passing boats. Species richness was compared across boat presence/absence using a Mann Whitney U test, and species richness, Shannon diversity, and Chao 1 were compared by number of boats using Spearman correlations. Species richness was higher in samples without boats (p = 0.004) but did not differ significantly between samples with 1 boat and samples with 2, suggesting that rare species may show reduced presence in response to boat traffic regardless of the intensity of that traffic. These results regarding the impact of anthropogenic noise pollution on fish populations have implications for future work and conservation initiatives.