The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority has received international acclaim for its initiative to incentivise quieter vessels by offering substantial discounts to ships meeting prescribed underwater noise emission criteria. VFPA's Enhancing Cetacean Habitat and Observation (ECHO) program aims to better understand and manage the impact of shipping activities on at-risk whales throughout the southern coast of British Columbia. Key to this VFPA initiative is the ability to accurately assess underwater sound emissions from vessels as they navigate the access corridor to the port. This is enabled through the deployment and operation by JASCO Applied Sciences, in collaboration with Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), of Underwater Listening Stations that provide real-time automated measurements of vessels’ noise emissions relative to other ships in their class through JASCO's PortListen® solution – an ANSI-conforming acoustic measurement system and web-enabled user interface, supported by ONC’s subsea network and data archive.
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