<p>I am not surprised that someone insists you need a permit, but in the face of all the much louder and totally unregulated echosounders on essentially all boats, it is a strange requirement I posit.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-08T13:07:59.627Z
Completely agree
Chloe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-08T12:44:33.030Z
2022-07-08T12:44:33.030Z
Marinebioacoustics Aarhus Univ
<p>Yes, a funny and serious topic. For an experiment in a Swiss lake where we played test sounds including orca sounds, we had to get permissions and do lengthy risk assessments, including the question whether fish would be disturbed. The lake is very noisy due to pumps, chains, boats, UW-communications, echo sounders etc. It was no problem at the end, and permission is only required if you do a scientific experiment. In Switzerland even (scientifically) recording birds in the wood needs a permission.
Then in Norway, no permit was required, because it was considered as &quot;non-invasive&quot;. After some discussion we got a written statement that no permit was needed.
The industrial fishing boats in Norway use very powerful sonars, and when I asked the fishermen if they need a license, they asked me where I am from...</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-27T15:15:10.997Z
2022-10-07T21:33:57.820Z
2022-10-07T21:33:57.820Z
Jörg Rychen
<p>I was recently scheduled to do some fieldwork in Canada, and this started with a calibration of our recording equipment. The calibration entailed projecting simulated clicks (from 10-150 kHz) to our hydrophones from a range of 1 m. These are brief, intermittent sounds that don't travel very far (due to being high freq) and are not the kinds of sounds that would cause auditory injury (PTS/TTS).</p>
<p>I have done this in the waters of Denmark and Scotland before, off a pier or a boat, no problem, but suddenly I find out that I'm meant to have a permit to do this in Canada. (Thankfully the working group already had the permit, but I was still surprised to hear about it!).</p>
<p>Does anyone know the processing times for such permits? How long do they last? Is it similar in the USA? In a place where licences are needed to project these innocuous sounds, is it a one-size-fits-all approach (i.e. where the same licence is used to project calibration tones as is used to do whale social playback experiments?). Thanks!</p>

<calibration><playback><ethics><permit><best-practice>
Permits for projecting sounds underwater?
# Permits for projecting sounds underwater?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-07-08)

I was recently scheduled to do some fieldwork in Canada, and this started with a calibration of our recording equipment. The calibration entailed projecting simulated clicks (from 10-150 kHz) to our hydrophones from a range of 1 m. These are brief, intermittent sounds that don't travel very far (due to being high freq) and are not the kinds of sounds that would cause auditory injury (PTS/TTS).

I have done this in the waters of Denmark and Scotland before, off a pier or a boat, no problem, but suddenly I find out that I'm meant to have a permit to do this in Canada. (Thankfully the working group already had the permit, but I was still surprised to hear about it!).

Does anyone know the processing times for such permits? How long do they last? Is it similar in the USA? In a place where licences are needed to project these innocuous sounds, is it a one-size-fits-all approach (i.e. where the same licence is used to project calibration tones as is used to do whale social playback experiments?). Thanks!

**Tags:** calibration, playback, ethics, permit, best-practice


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-07-08. Score: 3

I am not surprised that someone insists you need a permit, but in the face of all the much louder and totally unregulated echosounders on essentially all boats, it is a strange requirement I posit.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Completely agree  

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### Answer by username_2 on 2022-07-27. Score: 2

Yes, a funny and serious topic. For an experiment in a Swiss lake where we played test sounds including orca sounds, we had to get permissions and do lengthy risk assessments, including the question whether fish would be disturbed. The lake is very noisy due to pumps, chains, boats, UW-communications, echo sounders etc. It was no problem at the end, and permission is only required if you do a scientific experiment. In Switzerland even (scientifically) recording birds in the wood needs a permission.
Then in Norway, no permit was required, because it was considered as "non-invasive". After some discussion we got a written statement that no permit was needed.
The industrial fishing boats in Norway use very powerful sonars, and when I asked the fishermen if they need a license, they asked me where I am from...


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