Group items tagged

The Arctic is among the most rapidly-changing regions on Earth. Diminishing levels of sea-ice has increased opportunities for maritime activities in historically inaccessible areas such as the Northern Sea Route and Northwest Passage. Degradation of Arctic marine ecosystems may accompany expanding vessel operations through introduced underwater noise, potential for large oil spills, among other things; and may compound stressors already effecting biological populations due to climate change. Assessments are needed to track changes in vessel traffic patterns and associated environmental impacts. We analyzed Arctic-wide vessel Automatic Identification System data 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2017 to quantify the amount and spatial distribution of vessel operations, assess possible changes in these operations, and establish a baseline for future monitoring. Nearly 400,000 vessel transits were analyzed. Number of trips, hours of operation, and amount of sea surface exposed to vessel traffic were used to compare operations between 14 delineated waterways. Operations were extensive and diverse: an average of 132,828 trips were made annually by over 5,000 different vessels. Transits were made in all areas studied and all months of the year. Maritime activities were intensive in some areas, but ice-limited in others. Amount of sea surface exposed to vessel traffic exceeded 70% in all but three areas. Bulk carriers, cargo ships, passenger/cruise ships, research survey ships, and vessels supporting oil/gas-related activities were represented. However, fishing vessels, primarily in the BARENTS, BERING, and Norwegian Seas, surpassed operations of all other vessel types and comprised about one-half of all voyages each year. We observed no overt increasing or decreasing trends in vessel traffic volume in our limited study period. Instead, inter-year variation was evident. While the number of unique vessels and transits increased year-to-year, hours of operation declined in the s

The global COVID-19 pandemic caused a sharp decline in vessel traffic in many areas around the world, including vessel-based tourism throughout Alaska, USA in 2020. Marine vessel traffic has long been known to affect the underwater acoustic environment with direct and indirect effects on marine ecological processes. Glacier Bay National Park in southeastern Alaska has monitored underwater sound since 2000. We used continuous, calibrated hydrophone recordings to examine 2020 ambient sound levels compared with previous years: 2018, the most recent year with data available, and 2016 for historical perspective. Park tourism occurs mainly in May-September. Overall, the number of vessel entries in Glacier Bay was 44-49% lower in 2020 (2020: n = 1,831; 2018: n = 3,599; 2016: n = 3,212) affecting all vessel classes, including the complete absence of cruise ships and only three tour vessel trips. In all years, we found clear seasonal and diurnal patterns in vessel generated noise, focused from 06:00 to 20:00 local time (LT) in the summer months. Broadband (17.8-8,910 Hz) sound levels in the 2020 Visitor Season were 2.7 dB lower than 2018 and 2.5 dB lower than 2016. Focusing on morning (06:00-09:00 LT) and afternoon (15:00-18:00 LT) time-blocks when tour vessels and cruise ships enter and exit Glacier Bay, median broadband sound levels were 3.3-5.1 dB lower in 2020 than prior years. At the 95th percentile levels, morning and afternoon peak times in 2020 were 6.3-9.0 dB quieter than previous years. A 3 dB decline in median sound level in the 125 Hz one-third octave band in 2020 reflects a change in medium and large vessel noise energy and/or harbor seal vocalizations. Our results suggest that all types of vessels had a role in the quieter underwater sound environment in 2020, with the combined acoustic footprint of tour vessels and cruise ships most evident in the decrease in the 95th percentile loudest sounds. This and other descriptions of the pandemic-induced

1 year loans for bad credit are a highly efficient monetary provision for the ones struggling with less than perfect credit status. By the help of same day loans you can get much needed financial support for fulfilling important financial commitments with ease.

If you want to get a lengthy time slot till a year arranged for you for the gained amount of cash then you must not miss the chance to snatch away the offer of 12 month loans. Borrowers with credit blemishes must not also stay away from applying for these loans.

- Safety & Shipping Review 2021: 49 large ships lost worldwide last year. Total losses down 50% over 10 years. Number of shipping incidents (2,703) declines year-on-year. - Shipping industry resilient through pandemic, but crew change crisis has long-term consequences. Covid-19 delays and surge in demand for shipping increasing cost of claims. Inadequate ship maintenance could bring future claims. - Suez Canal incident shows ever-increasing vessel sizes continue to pose a disproportionately large risk with costly groundings and salvage operations. High number of fires and containers lost at sea. - South China, Indochina, Indonesia and Philippines maritime region is the global loss hotspot.

The Covid-19 pandemic is the latest example in a growing number of health, social, economic, and environmental crises humanity is facing. The multiple consequences of this pandemic crisis required strong responses from governments, including strict lockdowns. Yet, the impact of lockdowns on coastal ecosystems and maritime activities is still challenging to quantify over large spatial scales in comparison to the pre-Covid period. In this study, we used an object detection algorithm on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images acquired by the two Sentinel-1 satellites to assess the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the presence of boats before, during and after lockdown periods in the French Mediterranean Exclusive Economic Zone. During the French most severe lockdown period (March - May 2020), we observed that ship frequentation remained at the same level from March to July 2020, instead of rising towards the summer peak like in previous years. Then, ship frequentation increased rapidly to a normal level in August 2020 when restrictions were lifted. By comparing morning and evening (7:00 am and 7:00 pm) ship frequentation during this period to pre-Covid years, we observed contrasting patterns. On the one hand, morning detections were particularly high, while on the other hand evening detections were significantly lower and less concentrated in coastal touristic waters than in previous years. Overall, we found a 9% decrease in ship frequentation between the year 2020 and the 2017-2019 period, with a maximum of 43% drop in June 2020 due to the lockdown. So, the Covid -19 crisis induced only a very short-term reduction in maritime activities but did not markedly reduce the annual ship frequentation in the French Mediterranean waters. The satellite imagery approach is an alternative method that improves our understanding of the pandemic impacts at an unprecedented spatiotemporal scale and resolution.

Today, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) released the findings of the new, comprehensive 2016 Asia Cruise Trends study. Once again, the data reveals the cruise industry in Asia is growing at a record pace and shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, according to the latest study, Asian source markets experienced the most growth year over year in ocean cruise passengers with an impressive 24 percent increase from 2014 to 2015 and a total of 2.08 million passengers in 2015. Asian cruise deployment, capacity and destinations have been showing remarkable growth too.

Today, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) released the findings of the new, comprehensive 2016 Asia Cruise Trends study. Once again, the data reveals the cruise industry in Asia is growing at a record pace and shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, according to the latest study, Asian source markets experienced the most growth year over year in ocean cruise passengers with an impressive 24 percent increase from 2014 to 2015 and a total of 2.08 million passengers in 2015. Asian cruise deployment, capacity and destinations have been showing remarkable growth too.

happy new year 2019 with your friends and family together. To you these all collections happy new year wishes 2019 for friends and family is available here

It's possible to cross all of the world's oceans without using a single drop of fossil fuels: the Race for Water is proof. Entirely propelled by solar energy, hydrogen and wind, the boat set off last year on a five-year journey around the globe to raise awareness of the urgency of curbing plastic pollution in the oceans.

Assessments of ship-strike risk for large whales typically use a single year of ship traffic data and averaged predictions of species distributions. Consequently, they do not account for variability in ship traffic or species distributions. Variability could reduce the effectiveness of static management measures designed to mitigate ship-strike risk. We explore the consequences of interannual variability on ship-strike risk using multiple years of both ship traffic data and predicted fin, humpback, and blue whale distributions off California. Specifically, risk was estimated in four regions that are important for ship-strike risk management. We estimated risk by multiplying the predicted number of whales by the distance traveled by ships. To overcome the temporal mismatch between the available ship traffic and whale data, we classified the ship traffic data into nearshore and offshore traffic scenarios using the percentage of ship traffic traveling more than 24 nmi from the mainland coast, which was the boundary of a clean fuel rule implemented in 2009 that altered ship traffic patterns. We found that risk for fin and humpback whale populations off California increased as these species recovered from whaling. We also found that broad-scale, northward shifts in blue whale distributions throughout the North Pacific, likely in response to changes in oceanographic conditions, were associated with increased ship-strike risk off northern California. The magnitude of ship-strike risk for fin, humpback, and blue whales was influenced by the ship traffic scenarios. Interannual variability in predicted whale distributions also influenced the magnitude of ship-strike risk, but generally did not change whether the nearshore or offshore traffic scenario had higher risk. The consistency in the highest risk from the traffic scenarios likely occurred because areas containing the highest predicted number of whales were generally the same across years. The consistency in risk from th

Low-frequency sound from large vessels is a major, global source of ocean noise that can interfere with acoustic communication for a variety of marine animals. Changes in vessel activity provide opportunities to quantify relationships between vessel traffic levels and soundscape conditions in biologically important habitats. Using continuous deep-sea (890 m) recordings acquired ∼20 km (closest point of approach) from offshore shipping lanes, we observed reduction of low-frequency noise within Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (California, United States) associated with changes in vessel traffic during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Acoustic modeling shows that the recording site receives low-frequency vessel noise primarily from the regional shipping lanes rather than via the Sound Fixing and Ranging (SOFAR) channel. Monthly geometric means and percentiles of spectrum levels in the one-third octave band centered at 63 Hz during 2020 were compared with those from the same months of 2018-2019. Spectrum levels were persistently and significantly lower during February through July 2020, although a partial rebound in ambient noise levels was indicated by July. Mean spectrum levels during 2020 were more than 1 dB re 1 μPa2 Hz-1 below those of a previous year during 4 months. The lowest spectrum levels, in June 2020, were as much as 1.9 (mean) and 2.4 (25% exceedance level) dB re 1 μPa2 Hz-1 below levels of previous years. Spectrum levels during 2020 were significantly correlated with large-vessel total gross tonnage derived from economic data, summed across all California ports (r = 0.81, p < 0.05; adjusted r2 = 0.58). They were more highly correlated with regional presence of large vessels, quantified from Automatic Identification System (AIS) vessel tracking data weighted according to vessel speed and modeled acoustic transmission loss (r = 0.92, p < 0.01; adjusted r2 = 0.81). Within the 3-year study period, February-June 2020 exhibited persistentl

Surface atmospheric temperatures over the Arctic Ocean are rising faster than the global average, and sea-ice coverage has declined, making some areas newly accessible to ocean-going ships. Even so, Arctic waters remain hazardous to ships, in part, because of the highly variable nature of sea-ice formation and drift in some areas. In this study, we investigated interannual variability in polar class (PC) ship accessibility in the northern BERING Sea and seas north of the BERING Strait (East Siberian, Chukchi, Beaufort) from February 2012 to February 2022. We used sea-ice charts from the U.S. National Ice Center and calculations of the Risk Index Outcome (RIO) for PC3, PC5, and PC7 ships to characterize spatiotemporal trends in PC ship accessibility during the months of February, June, September, and November over the last 10 to 11 years. We also characterized shipping activity on select days in 2021. Overall, PC ship accessibility during the months of February and June increased over the last decade, especially for PC7 ships. However, areas that became more accessible over time did not support heavy ship traffic, possibly because they were not located on preferred transit routes or because they were surrounded by unnavigable ice, which made them inaccessible in practice. Ship accessibility was highly variable in the northernmost, offshore regions of the study site. During June, PC7 ship accessibility was interannually variable in waters south of the BERING Strait, and ships were active in those regions (most were fishing vessels), indicating potentially hazardous conditions during this time of year. Accessibility was considerably less variable over space and time (months, years) for PC5 (ice capable) ships and for PC3 ships (heavy icebreakers). Information from this study can be used by PC ship operators planning safe and successful shipping routes and by coastal states preparing emergency services to protect the maritime community. As governments and the private se

Italian prosecutors demand 26 years in jail for Concordia captain.

Italian prosecutors demand 26 years in jail for Concordia captain.

Attacks by Somali pirates cost $ 6.5 million per year to the Malagasy economy.

Attacks by Somali pirates cost $ 6.5 million per year to the Malagasy economy.

20 Years Ago: The Sea Empress Grounding.

20 Years Ago: The Sea Empress Grounding.

Somali Pirates Free Ship After Nearly 2 Years.