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The captain of the Latvian tugboat Orkāns ("storm" in Latvian) could not believe his eyes when he saw a dozen physicists, engineers and technicians from four different European countries hastily working on the funnel of his vessel moored at the Riga Shipyard on the Baltic Sea. They were connecting a long pipe to a strange truck installed on shore. The reason for this turmoil is the choice of old and rusty Orkāns as a test-bed for the first futuristic experiment of cleaning the exhaust gas of a ship diesel engine, using a particle accelerator, with the goal of reducing the content of harmful pollutants.

The U.S. military has a problem in the Western Pacific: the tyranny of distance and time. Delivering military force across the vast Pacific Ocean has never been easy, even for a country as blessed in resources and ingenuity as the United States. The problem has worsened as America's chief regional rival, China, has improved its ability to harm American interests quickly and with limited forewarning. Seventy years after Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China, China's military capabilities have matured to the point where, if directed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the People's Liberation Army (PLA) could launch a rapid attack to change the status quo, including territorial seizure, before the United States could meaningfully respond, thus presenting Washington with a fait accompli. American forces located outside the conflict area would have to penetrate China's anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) network to restore the status quo ex-ante, a daunting proposition. Under these circumstances, Washington might face the unenviable choice of doing nothing or escalating to higher levels of violence. Either way, the national interests of both the United States and its closest allies would suffer dramatically.

During winter months, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) frequent the coastal waters of Virginia near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Located within the Bay is Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest naval military installation, and the Port of Virginia, the sixth busiest container port in the United States. These large seaports, combined with the presence of recreational boaters, commercial fishing vessels, and sport-fishing boats, result in a constant heavy flow of vessel traffic through the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and adjacent areas. From December 2015 to February 2017, 35 satellite tags were deployed on humpback whales to gain a better understanding on the occurrence, movements, site-fidelity, and overall behavior of this species within this high-traffic region. The tags transmitted data for an average of 13.7 days (range 2.7-43.8 days). Location data showed that at some point during tag deployment, nearly all whales occurred within, or in close proximity to, the shipping channels located in the study area. Approximately one quarter of all filtered and modeled locations occurred within the shipping channels. Hierarchical state-space modeling results suggest that humpback whales spend considerable time (82.0%) engaged in foraging behavior at or near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Of the 106 humpback whales photo-identified during this research, nine individuals (8.5%) had evidence of propeller strikes. One whale that had previously been tagged and tracked within shipping channels, was found dead on a local beach; a fatality resulting from a vessel strike. The findings from this study demonstrate that a substantial number of humpback whales frequent high-traffic areas near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, increasing the likelihood of injurious vessel interactions that can result in mortalities.

Over the past two years, researchers at Fisheries and Oceans Canada have been running an acoustic monitoring project at multiple study sites throughout Nova Scotia, Canada to investigate baleen whale presence and levels of underwater noise. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a passive acoustic monitor (PAM) was in place in the study site located in the approaches to Halifax Harbor, a major Canadian port. This provided a unique opportunity to determine if changes in vessel noise levels occurred after pandemic restrictions were put in place. To investigate this, we analyzed and compared acoustic data collected from March 28 to April 28 and August 6 to October 22 in both 2019 and 2020. We also investigated possible changes in vessel traffic from February 1 through April 28 and July 1 through July 28 in 2019 and 2020 using terrestrial-based automatic identification system (AIS) data provided by the Canadian Coast Guard and cargo information provided by the Port of Halifax. The acoustic data were analyzed in 1/3 octave frequency bands. For the 89.1-112 Hz frequency band, we found an 8.4 dB increase in the daily minimum sound pressure level (SPL) in April 2020 compared to April 2019 due the presence of a large crane vessel stationed near the mooring site. For the period of August to October, we found an approximately 1.7 dB reduction in the same metric from 2019 to 2020. The most noticeable change in vessel composition was the dramatic decrease in the number and occurrence of pleasure craft in July 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. While this analysis looked at only a single PAM and a limited amount of data, we observed changes in sound levels in the frequency band known to be associated with shipping as well as changes in vessel traffic; we conclude that these observed changes may be related to pandemic restrictions.

In addressing climate change, the shipping industry, which is regarded as one sector that cannot be ignored in controlling greenhouse gas emissions, has become a key area of concern for the international community to achieve emissions reduction targets. The International Maritime Organization-the body that regulates international shipping-as well as the European Union and other international entities have adopted a series of emissions reduction policies, beginning a new era of shipping emissions reduction. In view of the urgency and complexity of this issue, the future policy direction of shipping emissions reduction and whether or not existing policies can achieve the emissions reduction targets have become the focus of attention in the global shipping industry. In addition, China's dual identity as a shipping magnate and a developing country plays a crucial role in the development of shipping emissions reduction trends, and reducing shipping emissions is necessary for China to achieve the "double carbon" commitment. In view of the above, this study endeavours to compare the current major shipping emission reduction policies from the perspective of international law and the perspective of macro policies, and analyze the future direction of international shipping emissions reduction policy. At the same time, the study identify China as one of the key countries to influence future policy making and proposes the position and path for China's participation in international shipping emissions reduction, which provided valuable contributions for China to participate in accelerating energy transformation, exploring participation in the carbon emission market, and promoting international unified shipping policy.

Visual detection technology is essential for an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) to perceive the surrounding environment; it can determine the spatial position and category of the object, which provides important environmental information for path planning and collision prevention of the USV. During a close-in reconnaissance mission, it is necessary for a USV to swiftly navigate in a complex maritime environment. Therefore, an object detection algorithm used in USVs should have high detection s peed and accuracy. In this paper, a YOLOv5 lightweight object detection algorithm using a Ghost module and Transformer is proposed for USVs. Firstly, in the backbone network, the original convolution operation in YOLOv5 is upgraded by convolution stacking with depth-wise convolution in the Ghost module. Secondly, to exalt feature extraction without deepening the network depth, we propose integrating the Transformer at the end of the backbone network and Feature Pyramid Network structure in the YOLOv5, which can improve the ability of feature expression. Lastly, the proposed algorithm and six other deep learning algorithms were tested on ship datasets. The results show that the average accuracy of the proposed algorithm is higher than that of the other six algorithms. In particular, in comparison with the original YOLOv5 model, the model size of the proposed algorithm is reduced to 12.24 M, the frames per second reached 138, the detection accuracy was improved by 1.3%, and the mean of average precision (0.5) reached 96.6% (from 95.3%). In the verification experiment, the proposed algorithm was tested on the ship video collected by the "JiuHang 750" USV under different marine environments. The test results show that the proposed algorithm has a significantly improved detection accuracy compared with other lightweight detection algorithms.

A Ship Bill of Lading is a receipt for the goods carried on the ship, or when technically put, is evidence of a contract between the shipper and the carrier. It is a documented title for the goods, signifying that the holder of the Bill of Lading is the legal owner of the goods it states. These days even on ships loading oil in bulk, the ship's masters are required to sign the Bill of Lading ( B/L). There are different types of bills of lading having a different meaning. The Bill of lading is an important shipping document which needs to be produced during the delivery of the cargo. The delivery process will entirely depend on the type of a bill of lading the possessor has. This video helps in explaining What is bill of lading and types of bill of lading along with its importance.

Internal seawater systems (ISS) are critical to the proper functioning of maritime vessels. Sea water is pumped on board ships for a broad array of uses, primarily for temperature control (e.g., engine and electrical systems), cooling capacity (e.g., air conditioners and refrigeration), and water provision (e.g., drinking, firefighting, steam, and ballast). Although sea water may spend only a brief period within ISS of a vessel, it can carry microorganisms and larval stages of macroorganisms throughout the system leading to biofouling accumulation that can impair system function or integrity. ISS can also act as a sub-vector of species translocations, potentially facilitating biological invasions. This review describes ships' ISS with a focus on operational impacts of biofouling and current drivers and barriers associated with ISS biofouling management. As ISS internal components are difficult to access, reports and studies of ISS biofouling are uncommon and much of the dedicated literature is decades old. The impact of biofouling on ISS and vessel operations is based on increased surface roughness of pipework and equipment, restricted water flow, corrosion and subsequent component impingement, reduced surface functional efficiency, and potential contamination by pathogens that can affect human and aquatic animal health. Biofouling management is primarily achieved using antifouling coatings and marine growth prevention systems, but independent and accessible data on their efficacy in ISS remain limited. Further research is required to resolve the extent to which biofouling occurs in ISS of the modern commercial fleet and the efficacy of preventive systems. Such information can ultimately inform decisions to improve operational efficiency for vessel operators and ensure any biosecurity risks are appropriately managed.

Biofouling in the marine environment refers to an unwanted build-up of marine organisms on subsea surfaces including harbor docks, hulls of ships and offshore installations. The first stage of marine fouling occurs as a microbial biofilm which forms via the aggregation of bacterial, algal, and fungal cells. This biofilm provides a favorable substrate for the larval settlement of larger organisms such as mussels, barnacles and hard corals which accumulate to uncontrollable extents, causing issues for the maritime industries. Since the ban of tributyltin (TBT) in 2008 by the International Maritime Organisation, alternative antifouling agents have been used such as algaecides and copper-based coatings. Recent studies are showing that these can accumulate in the marine environment and have toxic effects against non-target species. Marine microbes and invertebrates are known to be prolific producers of bioactive molecules, including antifouling active compounds. These compounds are often produced by marine organisms as a means of chemical defense to deter predators and prevent fouling of their own surfaces, making them a promising source of new antifouling agents. This article discusses the effects of biofouling on the maritime industries, the environmental dangers of currently used antifouling compounds and why natural products from marine organisms could be a source of environmentally friendly antifouling agents.

In maritime logistics optimization, considerable research efforts are focused on the extraction of deep behavioral characteristics from comprehensive shipping data to discern patterns in maritime vessel behavior. The effective linkage of these characteristics with maritime infrastructure, such as berths, is critical for the enhancement of ship navigation systems. This endeavor is paramount not only as a research focus within maritime information science but also for the progression of intelligent maritime systems. Traditional methodologies have primarily emphasized the analysis of navigational paths of vessels without an extensive consideration of the geographical dynamics between ships and port infrastructure. However, the introduction of knowledge graphs has enabled the integration of disparate data sources, facilitating new insights that propel the development of intelligent maritime systems. This manuscript presents a novel framework using knowledge graph technology for profound analysis of maritime data. Utilizing automatic identification system (AIS) data alongside spatial information from port facilities, the framework forms semantic triplet connections among ships, anchorages, berths, and waterways. This enables the semantic modeling of maritime behaviors, offering precise identification of ships through their diverse semantic information. Moreover, by exploiting the semantic relations between ships and berths, a reverse semantic knowledge graph for berths is constructed, which is specifically tailored to ship type, size, and category. The manuscript critically evaluates a range of graph embedding techniques, dimensionality reduction methods, and classification strategies through experimental frameworks to determine the most efficacious methodologies. The findings reveal that the maritime knowledge graph significantly enhances the semantic understanding of unmanned maritime equipment, thereby improving decision-making capabilities. Additionally, it establish

A photograph of a toddler's lifeless body washed ashore on a Turkish beach after a migrant boat sank swept across Europe on Wednesday, in a poignant image of the refugee crisis.

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A man set sail from France on a stand-up paddling board in a bizarre and dangerous attempt to cross the Channel. etail/story.html#uCDsQlGmTSSCYiEC.99

Death or injury to whales from vessel strike is one of the primary threats to whale populations worldwide. However, quantifying the rate of occurrence of these collisions is difficult because many incidents are not detected (particularly from large vessels) and therefore go unreported. Furthermore, varying reporting biases occur related to species identification, spatial coverage of reports and type of vessels involved. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has compiled a database of the worldwide occurrence of vessel strikes to cetaceans, within which Australia constitutes ~7% (35 reports) of the reported worldwide (~471 reports) vessel strike records involving large whales. Worldwide records consist largely of modern reports within the last two decades and historical evaluation of ship strike reports has mainly focused on the Northern Hemisphere. To address this we conducted a search of historical national and international print media archive databases to discover reports of vessel strikes globally, although with a focus on Australian waters. A significant number of previously unrecorded reports of vessel strikes were found for both Australia (76) and worldwide (140), resulting in a revised estimate of ~15% of global vessel strikes occurring in Australian waters. This detailed collation and analysis of vessel strike data in an Australian context has contributed to our knowledge of the worldwide occurrence of vessel strikes and challenges the notion that vessel strikes were historically rare in Australia relative to the rest of the world. The work highlights the need to examine historical records to provide context around current anthropogenic threats to marine fauna and demonstrates the importance of formalized reporting structures for effective collation of vessel strike reports. This paper examines the issues and biases in analysis of vessel strike data in general that would apply to any jurisdiction. Using the Australian data as an example we look at what

Ship strikes of whales are a growing concern around the world and especially along the U.S. West Coast, home to some of busiest ports in the world and where ship strikes on a number of species including blue, fin, and humpback whales have been documented. This trial program examined the feasibility, logistics, industry cooperation, and effectiveness of placing an observer on board a commercial ship. An experienced marine mammal observer went on five voyages, spanning over 8 days on ships operating between U.S. West Coast ports. Daylight observations were conducted over 68 h and covered over 1300 nm as ships transited between three ports [Seattle, Oakland, and LA/Long Beach (LA/LB)]. Sightings of large whales were reported on all (n = 42), totaling an estimated 57 individuals that included humpback, blue, fin, and beaked whales. Close encounters of large whales occurred (on one occasion a near miss, estimated at 40 m, of two humpbacks), and on another, a ship chose to alter course to avoid whale sightings in its path identified by the observer. All ships personnel cooperated and voluntarily aided in the observations even after initial skepticism by some crew about the program. While most effort on mitigating ship strikes along the U.S. West Coast has focused on shipping lanes, the vast majority of these sightings occurred outside these lanes and on the transit routes, emphasizing the need for added attention to these areas. This experiment demonstrates the effectiveness and promise of observations from ships providing critical information on whale locations at risk to ship strikes.

There is an increasing interest in developing innovative coatings and testing natural products with anti-fouling activity to substitute current highly toxic biocides that have a harmful impact on marine organisms. Bacillus licheniformis species have shown different anti-biofilm and anti-fouling activities in vitro, but so far, its efficacy in field trials has not been tested. For this purpose, the capacity of different extracts of B. licheniformis NCTC 10341T to prevent micro and macro-fouling was first tested in vitro. The methanol cell extract (MCE) inhibited bacterial biofilm formation without significantly affecting planktonic growth and displayed a significant efficacy to prevent larval settlement of the macro-fouler Bugula neritina in vitro without inducing lethality. Additionally, the MCE presented low toxicity against the non-target species Artemia salina. The B. licheniformis MCE was then incorporated in a self-polishing paint at 2 and 5% w/w and tested in a static immersion experiment in the Gulf of Aqaba (northern Red Sea) for 180 days. Fouling coverage decreased by 30% in the 5% MCE-treated panels in comparison with the control panels. Differences in the anti-biofilm activity of the extracts depending on the culture medium highlight the importance of the strict control of culture conditions for the production of biomass with stable bioactive activity. The results indicate the potential of B. licheniformis NCTC 10341T crude extracts for environmentally friendly anti-fouling applications, although a deeper characterization of the bioactive compounds present in the B. licheniformis MCE and its mode of action is required to allow strict control of the activity of the extracts to achieve large-scale industrial production.

The inland waters around southern Vancouver Island and northern Washington State, known as the Salish Sea, host critical habitat for endangered southern resident killer whales (SRKW). This is, however, a highly traversed area, with approaches to industrial ports and coastal cities, international shipping lanes, ferry routes, and considerable recreational vessel traffic. Vessel noise is a key threat to SRKW prosperity, and so conservation measures directed to mitigate its effects have been explored annually since 2017. Here, we describe trials undertaken in 2020, which included spatially limited slowdown zones, exclusion areas as Interim whale Sanctuary Zones (ISZs), and a lateral displacement of tug transits to increase the distance between their route and SRKW foraging areas. To assess each of the measures we first considered the level of mariner participation using data from the Automated Identification Systems (AIS), mandatory for commercial vessels. Knowing this, the changes in soundscape were examined, focused on impacts on broadband (10 Hz to 100 kHz) ambient noise and the frequencies used by SRKW for communication (500 Hz to 15 kHz) and echolocation (15 to 100 kHz). A control period of two-months prior to trial initiation was used to quantify the changes. High levels (> 80%) of compliance were found for each measure, except ISZs, where observance was low. Median reduction in speeds ranged from 0.2-3.5 knots. Resulting sound reductions were most notable in the lower frequencies, although reductions were also recorded in SRKW pertinent ranges. Tug displacement also reduced ambient noise in these frequencies, despite making up a small portion of the overall traffic. The management trials were effective in reducing potential impacts singularly and in concert. Greater awareness and stakeholder engagement may increase compliance and, therefore, the efficacy of measures in the future.

Ship strikes are a widespread conservation issue for many cetacean species globally. Population level impacts depend on the occurrence and severity of collisions, which may lead to life altering injuries or fatalities. Such impacts are a major concern for large, long-lived, and reproductively slow species like the fin whale. Since 2014, a seasonal feeding aggregation of fin whales has been monitored from February to June off the Catalan coast (Spain), in the northwest Mediterranean Sea. Oceanographical factors influence the occurrence and high density of krill within submarine canyons along the continental shelf, resulting in high whale abundance within a small spatial area. The study area extends 37 km offshore across a 1,944 km2 marine strip situated between the towns of Torredembarra and Castelldefels. This fin whale feeding ground is exposed to high density marine vessel traffic, given its location between the northern Mediterranean shipping lane, which links Barcelona and Tarragona Ports to the Atlantic Ocean and wider Mediterranean Basin. Ship strikes represent the greatest conservation threat for fin whales in the Mediterranean Sea. At least four fin whales have been found dead in Barcelona Port since 1986 due to ship strikes and seven live whales have been documented with injuries in the study area since 2018. Fin whale distribution was mapped with known high-risk marine vessels' (cargo, tanker and passenger vessels) shipping lanes. Vessel density and shipping lanes characterised by speed were considered. Collision risk was estimated monthly based on the predicted fin whale occurrence and traffic density. Several shipping lanes crossed the fin whale feeding habitat every month with an average speed of 15 kn. Cargo vessels displayed the highest ship-strike risk during April, overlapping with the peak of fin whale sightings in the critical feeding area. Slower vessel speeds (8 kn) in waters <200 m depth or along the continental shelf should be implemented al