Suchergebnisse

The limited availability of consistent, longitudinal data sources for marine traffic in Arctic Canada has presented significant challenges for researchers, policy makers, and planners. Temporally and spatially accurate shipping data that reveal historical and current traffic trends are vital to plan safe shipping corridors, develop infrastructure, plan and manage protected areas, and understand the potential environmental and cultural impacts of change, as well as for sovereignty and safety considerations. This study uses a recently developed geospatial database of ship traffic to provide the first synthesized overview of the spatial and temporal variability of different vessel types in Arctic Canada during the 26-year period from 1990 to 2015. This examination shows that, overall, the distance traveled by ships in Arctic Canada nearly tripled (from 364 179 km in 1990 to 918 266 km in 2015), that the largest proportion of ship traffic in the region is from general cargo vessels and government icebreakers (including research ships), and that the fastest growing vessel type by far is pleasure craft (private yachts). Spatial shifts in vessel activity over the last quarter century have favoured areas with active mine sites, as well as the southern route of the Northwest Passage. As a result, some communities, including Baker Lake, Chesterfield Inlet, Pond Inlet, and Cambridge Bay, are experiencing greater increases in ship traffic. ; La faible disponibilité de sources de données longitudinales cohérentes pour le trafic maritime de l'Arctique canadien pose d'importants défis aux chercheurs, aux responsables des politiques et aux planificateurs. L'existence de données d'expédition temporelles et spatiales précises qui révèlent les tendances historiques et actuelles du trafic s'avère essentielle pour planifier la sûreté des couloirs de navigation, aménager l'infrastructure, planifier et gérer les zones protégées, comprendre les incidences environnementales et culturelles potentielles découlant du changement et agir en fonction des considérations de souveraineté et de sécurité. Cette étude s'appuie sur une base de données géospatiale du trafic maritime récemment conçue pour fournir la première synthèse de la variabilité spatiale et temporelle de différents types de navires dans l'Arctique canadien au cours de la période de 1990 à 2015. L'étude démontre que, globalement, la distance parcourue par les navires dans l'Arctique canadien a presque triplé (passant de 364 179 km en 1990 à 918 266 km en 2015), que les navires de marchandises diverses et les brise-glaces gouvernementaux (y compris les navires de recherche) forment la plus grande partie du trafic maritime dans la région, et que le trafic des bateaux de plaisance (yachts privés) est, de loin, le trafic qui connaît le plus grand essor. Les changements spatiaux sur le plan de l'activité des navires au cours du dernier quart de siècle ont favorisé les zones ayant des sites miniers actifs, ainsi que la route sud du passage du Nord-Ouest. Par conséquent, certaines collectivités, dont celles de Baker Lake, Chesterfield Inlet, Pond Inlet et Cambridge Bay, connaissent une plus forte augmentation de la circulation maritime.

Marine life in the Mediterranean Sea is threatened by intensive human activities such as fisheries, ship traffic, pollution and coastal development. Cetaceans and other vertebrates are affected not only by chemical pollution, but also by noise pollution (Richardson et al., 1995; Simmonds et al., 2004). Noise has become a ubiquitous form of marine pollution, especially in areas of heavy maritime traffic and along developed coasts. Intense underwater noise is generated by airguns, widely used for geophysical exploration in the oil and gas industry as well as for academic and government research purposes; by high power sonar, either military or civilian; by ship traffic; by shoreline and offshore construction works; and by a number of other commercial, scientific, military and industrial sources. The most powerful noises (from airguns, sonars, and explosions) may directly injure animals in the vicinity of the source. General ship traffic, heavy industries on the coast and a variety of other human activities generally do not generate such intense noise, but the acoustic pollution they produce is constant over time and may affect large areas. It may be a serious hazard not only to individual animals, but also to entire populations. Such increased background noise affects underwater life just as airborne noise affects terrestrial animals, including human beings. ; peer-reviewed

Harbours are important hubs for economic growth in both tourism and commercial activities. They are also an environmental burden being a source of atmospheric pollution often localized near cities and industrial complexes. The aim of this study is to quantify the relative contribution of maritime traffic and harbour activities to atmospheric pollutant concentration in the Venice lagoon. The impact of ship traffic was quantified on various pollutants that are not directly included in the current European legislation for shipping emission reduction: (i) gaseous and particulate PAHs; (ii) metals in PM10; and (iii) PM10 and PM2.5. All contributions were correlated with the tonnage of ships during the sampling periods and results were used to evaluate the impact of the European Directive 2005/33/EC on air quality in Venice comparing measurements taken before and after the application of the Directive (year 2010). The outcomes suggest that legislation on ship traffic, which focused on the issue of the emissions of sulphur oxides, could be an efficient method also to reduce the impact of shipping on primary particulate matter concentration; on the other hand, we did not observe a significant reduction in the contribution of ship traffic and harbour activities to particulate PAHs and metals.

This thesis evaluates the risk of ship collisions in the Barents Sea in 2030 between three future scenarios; Minimum, Basis and Maximum Scenario. IWRAP Mk2 program is utilized to make the calculations. Automatic Identification System (AIS) data of 2013 is used to parameterize current traffic density, while the increased traffic in the different scenarios is derived from an analysis of multiple sources, including Rystad Petro Foresight, government documents and reports from DNV. The petroleum production in the North Sea is expected to decline, while exploration and production in the Northern part Norway is expected to increase. This will lead to that the Barents Sea will be a major contributor to oil and gas production, instead of the North Sea and the southern Norwegian Sea towards the end of 2030s. The petroleum industry is on its way north to an area that earlier mainly has been associated with high fishing activity, but may now be more dominated by larger supply vessels. This change will cause an increase in ship traffic in the area, and the probability of ship collisions may therefore be elevated. The issues discussed in this report are important for the industry, and necessary for predicting the future risk picture in the Barents Sea. It is vital to idenfity the future risk of ship collision with regards to the increase in ship traffic due to the potential consequences with respect to the harsh and vulnerable environment and lack of infrastructure in the northern part of Norway. This thesis will investigate how the probability of ship collision change, and also identify the risk of ship collisions in the Barents Sea within the different scenarios of petroleum development. There are five types of collision between ships which are taken into account in this thesis, these are; Head on collsion, crossing collsion, overtaking collsion, bend collision and merge collsion. The thesis will answer the research problems regarding to how the environmental conditions in the Barents Sea are, how the increased offshore-related traffic increase the probability of ship collision in the Barents Sea in 2030, and how the risk of ship collisions change between the three scenarios. The results show that there will be significantly differens in the likelihood for ship collisions in the three scenarios. The total likelihood for minimum scenario is 5,80E-04 incidents/year, while the likelihood in basis and maximum scenario is calculated to 1,8E-03 and 1,75E-03. The final leg into `Polarbase` (Hammerfest) is the leg in all scenarios that will have the greatest likelihood for ship collisions, and will also be the most critical leg with respect to the high density of ships in it, despite its short length. The ship type that will be the biggest contributer to ship collisions is both support ships and crude oil tankers, these collisions will be by type; head on collision and overtaking collision. A critical situation will occur in the Barents Sea if a ship collision takes place, and especially collisions with crude oil tankers with its chemicals. This will put great demand on the oil spill management in the region.

Ships and harbour emissions are currently increasing, due to the increase of tourism and trade, with potential impact on global air pollution and climate. At local scale, in-port ship emissions influence air quality in coastal areas impacting on health of coastal communities. International legislations to reduce ship emissions, both at Worldwide and European levels, are mainly based on the use of low-sulphur content fuel. In this work an analysis of the inter-annual trends of primary contribution, ε, of tourist shipping to the atmospheric PM2.5 concentrations in the urban area of Venice has been performed. Measurements have been taken in the summer periods of 2007, 2009 and 2012. Results show a decrease of ε from 7% (±1%) in 2007 to 5% (±1%) in 2009 and to 3.5% (±1%) in 2012. The meteorological and icrometeorological conditions of the campaigns were similar. Tourist ship traffic during measurement campaigns increased, in terms of gross tonnage, of about 25.4% from 2007 to 2009 and of 17.6% from 2009 to 2012. The decrease of ε was associated to the effect of a voluntary agreement (Venice Blue Flag) for the use of low-sulphur content fuel enforced in the area between 2007 and 2009 and to the implementation of the 2005/33/CE Directive in 2010. Results show that the use of low-sulphur fuel could effectively reduce the impact of shipping to atmospheric primary particles at local scale. Further, voluntary agreement could also be effective in reducing the impact of shipping on local air quality in coastal areas.

10 páginas, 1 tabla, 2 figuras. ; We analysed the biodiversity of ascidians in two areas located in southern and northern Chile: Punta Arenas in the Strait of Magellan (53º latitude, subantarctic) and Coquimbo (29º latitude, temperate). The oceanographic features of the two zones are markedly different, with influence of the Humboldt Current in the north, and the Cape Horn Current System, together with freshwater influxes, in the Magellanic zone. Both regions were surveyed twice during 2013 by SCUBA diving and pulling ropes and aquaculture cages. Both artificial structures and natural communities were sampled. A total of 22 species were identified, three of them reported for the first time in Chilean waters: Lissoclinum perforatum, Synoicum georgianum, and Polyzoa minor. The first is an introduced species found here for the first time in the Pacific. No species occurred in both regions, highlighting the very different environmental conditions of subantarctic vs. temperate waters. In spite of exhaustive searches in aquaculture facilities and on artificial structures such as harbour docks and piers, no introduced species were found in the Punta Arenas area. Conversely, 5 out of 11 (45%) species found in northern Chile were introduced. The Coquimbo area has a history of ship traffic dating back at least 150 years, and cultures of native (e.g. scallop) as well as exotic species (e.g. abalone) have been deployed for ca. 35 years. Some of the introduced species, such as Ciona robusta (formerly C. intestinalis sp. A), constitute pests for scallop culture facilities in the area, causing serious losses to local farmers. It is surprising that the Punta Arenas zone, with a history of ship traffic dating back ca. 500 years and over 25 years of sustained mussel and salmon aquaculture activity, is apparently free from introduced species. The ascidian cover on artificial structures is high, but it is made up of native species such as Paramolgula sp., Cnemidocarpa verrucosa, or Polyzoa opuntia. It is hypothesized that cold waters (5 to 11ºC) are the determining factor hindering the development of introduced ascidians, which tend to be temperate-warm water species. The ongoing warming in the Southern Cone may change this picture and continued monitoring is strongly advised. ; This research was funded by CONICYT Chile (Grant 80122006). Additional funding was obtained by XT from the Spanish Government (project CHALLENGEN CTM2013-48163) and by JIC from University of Magallanes - UMAG/DI&P Grant PR-F2-01CRN- 12, CIMAR 18 & CIMAR 20 Fjords Chilean Navy, and GAIAAntarctic Project (MINEDUC-UMAG). RMR received a research grant from CNPq–National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (304768/2010-3). ; Peer reviewed

In 2017, the The International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code) – a set of function-based regulations applicable to Arctic and Antarctic waters, with the goal of increasing awareness and improving safety for ship operations in polar waters – entered into force. This article examines the Polar Code's contribution to the establishment of new standards and guidelines, with the problem under discussion being the extent to which the function-based regulations contribute to enhancing safety for ship operations in the Arctic, given that maritime activities in these waters are associated with great risks and uncertainties. The article gives a historical review, elucidating the background leading to the development of the Polar Code, followed by a review of the structure and key principles of the regulations. Further, ship traffic in the Arctic region and those subject to the Polar Code are examined, followed by a summary of findings and experiences from three survival exercises (SARex I, II and III), performed in northern areas around Svalbard between 2016 and 2018. The article concludes that safe ship operations depend on those subject to the regulations conducting thorough operational risk assessments that cover all potential hazards, in order to mitigate sufficiently. Further, the presence of authorities is found to be crucial, with validation of the adequacy and the dimensioning of the implemented measures being of the essence.

This article presents results from the Commission of the European Communities (CEC) project 'Safety of Shipping in Coastal Waters' (SAFECO). The project was performed by ten European partners during the period 1995‐1998. The principal aim of the SAFECO project was to determine the influences that could increase the safety of shipping in coastal waters by analyzing the underlying factors contributing to the marine accident risk level. The work reported here focuses on the Marine Accident Risk Calculation System (MARCS) that was further developed during the SAFECO project. This paper presents the methods used by MARCS, as well as data and results from a 'demonstration of concept' case study covering the North Sea area. The estimated accident frequencies (number of accidents per year) were compared with historical accident data, to demonstrate the validity of the modeling approach. Reasonable (within a factor of 5) to good (within a factor of 2) agreement between calculated accident frequencies and observed accident statistics was generally obtained. However, significant discrepancies were identified for some ship types and accident categories. The risk model has particular problems with estimating the accident frequency for drift grounding in general and powered grounding for ferries. It was concluded that these discrepancies are related to uncertainties in several areas, specifically in the risk model algorithms, the traffic data, the error and failure probability data, and the historical accident statistics.