Dear colleagues, We are pleased to announce the publication of a new paper in JASA-Express Letters that may be of interest to members of the marine mammal research community. Erbe, C., A. MacGillivray, and R. Williams. 2012. Mapping cumulative noise from shipping to inform marine spatial planning. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 132:EL423-EL428. Abstract: Including ocean noise in marine spatial planning requires predictions of noise levels on large spatiotemporal scales. Based on a simple sound transmission model and ship track data (Automatic Identification System, AIS), cumulative underwater acoustic energy from shipping was mapped throughout 2008 in the west Canadian Exclusive Economic Zone, showing high noise levels in critical habitats for endangered resident killer whales, exceeding limits of “good conservation status” under the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Error analysis proved that rough calculations of noise occurrence and propagation can form a basis for management processes, because spending resources on unnecessary detail is wasteful and delays remedial action. The paper is available from: http://asadl.org/jasa/resource/1/jasman/v132/i5/pEL423_s1 Apologies for cross-posting. Sincerely, Rob Williams --- Dr Rob Williams Marie Curie Research Fellow Sea Mammal Research Unit School of Biology University of St Andrews