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The cruise industry has suffered heavy setbacks owing to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Domestic and global pandemic control measures-involving rules varying across countries as well as distinct legal systems-were escalated. We aimed to illustrate the need to establish a public health cooperation mechanism for the cruise industry. First, we analyzed the legal dilemma pertaining to pandemic prevention and control in cooperative situations; namely, the legal loopholes in the prevention, control, and rescue of cruise ships. Second, we focused on international collaboration during cruise ship rescues amid the pandemic, exploring solutions for current industry problems. Third, by analyzing Chinese practices in cruise-related areas, this paper guides the development of a public health cooperation mechanism for the cruise industry. In sum, we call upon the international community to develop such a mechanism within the scope of international law in terms of public health security and pandemic prevention. Research methodology: This is a practical research paper. Per our analysis of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and International Health Regulations of the World Health Organization, we studied the global legal issues pertaining to cruise epidemic prevention and control by sorting out legal regulations. We conclude that an international cooperation mechanism for cruise epidemic prevention and control should be established to ensure the cruise industry's sustainable development.

While crucial for maneuverability and safety of commercial ships, ballast water (BW) has long served as a major vector for the distribution of non-native species in coastal ecosystems. Species transfers via shipping can alter community composition, ecosystem function, economies, and human health. In recent decades, a significant body of research has focused on BW, including many in-situ studies, but this is unevenly distributed across global regions. Here, we conducted a literature review to evaluate the distribution of published BW studies across geographic regions, taxonomic groups, and habitats, highlighting some current knowledge gaps. Of 2,088 publications on BW in our review, 270 (13%) reported on in-situ sampling from ballast tanks across 194 unique geographic locations. For both number of publications and sampling effort, approximately 85% were from the northern hemisphere. Considering planktonic organisms sampled in BW, only 12% of publications were from the southern hemisphere, and no study reported analyses of benthic communities in ballast tanks outside of North America and Europe. While we recognize that our review does not capture all existing data, such as technical reports and regional journals, it provides a relative measure of research effort to date, highlighting the disparity among regions in taxonomic and habitat analyses of ballast communities. In particular, the low frequency of in-situ measures for many regions (especially the southern hemisphere) limits current understanding of BW species transfers, including changes over time in response to evolving management and policy across the globe.

Crew members aboard international voyage ships are susceptible to imported acute respiratory infections, leading to clusters of outbreaks that pose challenges to the health of crew members. The aim of the proposed study was to optimize a plan for the quarantine process and rescue measures in response to a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak at sea to provide policy guidance for the prevention and control of severe infectious diseases on international voyage ships. Here, we described the baseline characteristics of international voyage ships and crew members entering Zhoushan Port from 2020 to 2022 and analyzed the factors influencing the incidence rate of COVID-19 among crew members. There were 161 COVID-19 cases among cargo ships entering Zhoushan Port by sea, with an average incidence rate of 16.00% (95% CI: 13.73%-18.27%). The incidence rate of COVID-19 was significantly higher among crew members with replacement, long voyage, and those who stayed at multiple anchorages or stayed for a long time. The risk of COVID-19 infection for crew members staying at more than 4 anchorage was the highest, which was 2.667 (95% CI: 1.857-3.830) times that of crew members staying at less than 4 anchorage. We developed and refined the workflow for a public health assistance plan for outbreaks at sea on the basis of our experience with several COVID-19 outbreaks on international voyage ships. The workflow includes fundamental requirements, sampling and testing methods, personnel transfer procedures, medical waste disposal guidelines, and disinfection procedures for affected ships. Our public health assistance plan can be applied to other international voyage ships for which urgent public health assistance is needed during sudden infectious disease outbreaks.

US west coast employers go public with offer, but dockers say little.

US west coast employers go public with offer, but dockers say little.

In 2011, several non-governmental and government agencies established the Kenya Marine Mammal Network (KMMN) to provide a platform for the consistent collection of data on marine mammals along the Kenyan coast, identify areas of importance and engage marine users and the general public in marine mammal conservation. Prior to the KMMN, relatively little was known about marine mammals in Kenya, limiting conservation strategies. The KMMN collects data nationwide through dedicated surveys, opportunistic sightings and participative citizen science, currently involving more than 100 contributors. This paper reviews data on sightings and strandings for small cetaceans in Kenya collated by the KMMN. From 2011 to 2019, 792 records of 11 species of small cetaceans were documented. The most frequently reported inshore species were the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin and Indian Ocean humpback dolphin. Offshore species, included killer whales, short-finned pilot whale and long-snouted spinner dolphin. Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, long-snouted spinner dolphins, striped dolphins and Risso's dolphins were recorded through stranding reports. The efforts of the KMMN were disseminated through international meetings (International Whaling Commission, World Marine Mammal Conference), national status reports, outreach and social media. Data has also supported the identification of three IUCN Important Marine Mammal Areas and one Area of Interest in Kenya. Further research is needed to improve estimates of cetacean abundance and distribution, particularly in unstudied coastal areas, and to assess the extent of anthropogenic threats associated with fisheries, coastal and port development, seismic exercises and unregulated tourism. The expansion of the network should benefit from the participation of remote coastal fishing communities, government research agencies, tourism and seismic operations, among others. The KMMN demonstrated the value of dedicated and citizen science data to enh

Cruise tourism is becoming increasingly popular worldwide. However, the health and safety of thousands of cruise tourists have been put in jeopardy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The refusal of cruise ships calling has been the most significant reason behind the health hazards faced by passengers. Moreover, some coastal States have decided to close their borders, leaving passengers to their own fate in the case of a COVID-19 outbreak on board. Situation analysis contributes to demonstrating obstacles encountered in public health governance on cruise tourism. Information is collected from official websites of governments and international organizations to investigate the reasons behind the non-compliance of these countries with the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005). Academic literatures showcase different views on the necessity of revising the IHR (2005). Statistical analysis is used to assess core capacities required by the IHR (2005) of the coastal States. Coastal States reserve their rights to refuse foreign cruise ships to enter ports and to prevent the persons aboard from embarking or disembarking so long as conditions under Article 43 are met. However, some foreign cruise ships were directly refused to call by various coastal States without scientific evidence. This practice stems largely from the high risk of COVID-19 outbreaks in cruise ships and the resulting burden from the cruise pandemic response. Compared with improving IHR (2005), especially its dispute settlement mechanism, helping coastal States to boost their core capacities is more conducive to solving the problem of cruise public health governance. The improvement of core capacities can be carried out from the aspects of surveillance of cruise ships and risk assessment, medical examinations on cruise travelers, cruise design and cruise tourism management.

In recent years, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set strict emission standards for the shipping industry, which has raised high demands for ship emission reduction technologies. This review analyzes the research status of ship emission reduction technologies using bibliometric methods based on 714 publications from the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) and SCI-Expanded (SCIE) databases from 2000 to 2024, and use VOSviewer software for the visualization of publications. It identifies key trends, productive entities and key contributors, and research hotspots in the field. The core findings are that green power technologies, digital intelligence technologies, and emission reduction technologies are current focal points. Future research should focus on finding optimal solutions for alternative marine fuels, clarifying the low-carbon transformation pathways for ships, and promoting effective follow-up actions from all relevant parties.

On Sunday, hundreds of fishermen in a small port in Vietnam protested the construction of a new terminal for cement exports, a rare public display of dissent in the tightly controlled nation.

On Sunday, hundreds of fishermen in a small port in Vietnam protested the construction of a new terminal for cement exports, a rare public display of dissent in the tightly controlled nation.

U.S. probe into El Faro disaster concludes public hearings.

The Panama Canal will hold a draw on Friday, April 29, to select the first vessel which will transit through the Expanded Canal when it is inaugurated on Sunday, June 26. The draw will take place at the Panama Canal Administration Building and a Notary Public to serve as witness.

The European Commission has found that public funding of €270 million to build a new cross‑Channel terminal in the Port of Calais is in line with EU state aid rules. The new infrastructure furthers EU transport policy objectives without unduly distorting competition in the internal market.

The importance of the River Thames as both economic asset and public amenity is being underscored today by the Port of London Authority (PLA) at one of the opening events of London International Shipping Week.

The U.S. Coast Guard's Marine Board of Investigations for the El Faro's sinking opened its two-week series of public hearings Tuesday in Jacksonville, Florida, beginning with questions for Mr. Phillip MORRELL, TOTE Services' vice president of marine operations.

The growing concerns about the negative effects caused by whale watching on wild cetacean populations are evincing the need to measure whale watching effort more precisely. The current alternatives do not provide sufficient information or imply time-consuming and staff-intensive tasks that limit their effectiveness to establish the maximum carrying capacity for this tourist activity. A methodology based on big data analysis, using Automatic Identification System (AIS) messages can provide valuable vessel activity information, which is necessary to estimate whale watching effort in areas with cetacean populations. We used AIS data to automatically detect whale watching operations and quantify whale watching effort with high spatial and temporal resolution in the Canary Islands off the west African coast. The results obtained in this study are very encouraging, proving that the methodology can estimate seasonal and annual trends in the whale watching effort. The methodology has also proved to be effective in providing detailed spatial information about the whale watching effort, which makes an interesting tool to manage spatial regulations and enforce exclusion zones. The widespread use of AIS devices in maritime navigation provides an enormous potential to easily extend this methodology to other regions worldwide. Any public strategy aimed at the sustainable use of marine resources should enhance the use of this kind of information technologies, collecting and archiving detailed information on the activity of all the vessels, especially in marine protected areas.

Vessel strike is recognized as a major modern threat to the recovery of large whale populations globally, but the issue is notoriously difficult to assess. Vessel strikes by large ships frequently go unnoticed, and those involving smaller vessels are rarely reported. Interpreting global patterns of vessel strikes is further hindered by underlying reporting biases caused by differences in countries' research efforts, legislation, reporting structures and enforcement. This leaves global strike data "patchy" and typically scarce outside of developed countries, where resources are more limited. To explore this we investigated vessel strikes with large whales in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP), a coastal region of ten developing countries where heavy shipping and high cetacean densities overlap. Although this is characteristic of vessel strike "hotspots" worldwide, only 11 ETP strike reports from just four countries (∼2% of total reports) existed in the International Whaling Commission's Global Ship Strike Database (2010). This contrasts greatly with abundant reports from the neighboring state of California (United States), and the greater United States/Canadian west coast, making it a compelling case study for investigating underreporting. By reviewing online media databases and articles, peer review publications and requesting information from government agencies, scientists, and tourism companies, we compiled a regional ETP vessel strike database. We found over three times as many strike reports (n = 40), from twice as many countries (n = 8), identifying the geographic extent and severity of the threat, although likely still underestimating the true number of strikes. Reports were found from 1905 until 2017, showing that strikes are a regional, historic, and present threat to large whales. The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) was the most commonly hit species, and whale-watch industries involving small vessels in areas of high whale densities were recogniz

The consequences of port closures during the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted flaws in the implementation of international law designed to protect the human rights of those at sea, according to a study by Dr Sofia Galani, Senior Lecturer in Public International Law at the University of Bristol and Human Rights at Sea Advisory Board member.