I looked and couldn't find any actual substance to that ridiculous meme. If you think about it, there is no way to artificially generate such loud noise. So the idea of measuring seal response is nonsense. They already know from experience at Cape Canaveral that animals can tolerate a lot without panic.

As an example, I was involved in directing a solid rocket motor test for an antiaircraft missile propulsion unit. The booster was over and done with in 1.4 seconds, and it sounded for all the world like an explosion. Many decibels. The test complete, we all congregated at the pad to admire the smoking casing (and wince at the stench). This was all taking place at a remote location, surrounded by forest. I happened to turn around...to notice a curious deer at the end of the test pad, no more than 20 feet away. It looked back at me, then calmly sauntered off. I would have thought it would have been scared into the next county, but no. And then I reflected on the fact that they probably just stand there when thunder occurs. Over with before they can barely flinch.

Another commenter said that the F&WS was assessing the effects of runoff water from the planned deluge system. Okay, that's reasonable. The deluge system is a new configuration. I didn't say that they were looking specifically at debris effects, only that the unplanned effects of that launch were huge and that an environmental concern was at least legitimate. And what are they supposed to do? They trusted Musk on the first launch, and that was absolutely misplaced. The launch site is adjacent to a state park, so the government has a fiduciary duty to assure there would be no harm to animals protected by that park. Not a punishment if it is in accordance with the agreements that Musk approved and must comply with.

I've worked in the field of launch vehicles. I'm not happy with any government delay that is unreasonable. But safety is pretty damn important. You have no idea the magnitude of blast that would result if the total stack blew up. There's a reason that public viewing of the Saturn V launches took place at an extreme distance, and Musk's bird is bigger than a Saturn V. I spent some time once, calculating blast overpressure distances for a launch disaster of a vehicle design we were working on. My boss was puzzled why I was doing it. I answered, "So we know where to put the chain link fence where a pregnant mother can watch a vehicle go off high order. There's gonna be such a fence and we've gotta put it somewhere." He had no answer to that.