Analysis of accidents involved in touring/ sport/ recreational vessels and yachts in the Turkish search and rescue area

Our country is surrounded by seas on three sides; it is in an attractive position in terms of tourism due to its suitable climate and many history and cultures. Especially the stagnant structure of the Aegean and the Mediterranean allows sea tourism in almost four seasons; it is one of the routes preferred especially by yacht ships. In this respect, a maritime traffic arises due to touring, sports and recreational ships and yachts, and these ships occasionally cause accidents. In the study, marine accidents in the Turkish Search and Rescue Area involving touring, sports and recreational vessels and yachts are statistically analyzed. In this context, frequency distributions are carried out first and the hypotheses are examined by Chi-Square independence analysis.

Analysis of shipboard fire/explosion accidents occurred in the Turkish search and rescue area

A shipboard fire/explosion may be occurred due to various causal factors such as actions, omissions, events or conditions. In this study, it is aimed to carry out an analysis focused on shipboard fire/explosion casualties. With this aim, the data on 127 shipboard fire/explosion casualties occurred in the Turkish Search and Rescue area, which were reported to the Main Search and Rescue Coordination Center between 2006-2015, have been analyzed. As a result of the statistical analysis (descriptive statistics), it has been observed that majority of the shipboard fire/explosion casualties were occurred on-board the Turkish flagged ships, on-board small passenger vessels/recreational vessels/private-commercial yachts among the classified ship types, in the regions of İstanbul, İzmir and Çanakkale, in the summer season, during the night-time, and in machinery spaces of the ships by described locations. It has been also observed that main events caused shipboard fires/explosion casualties were electricity contact/leakage, gas accumulation/leakage, cargo ignition, welding/hot works and other undescribed factors. Additionally, by examining the existing shipboard fire & explosion accident investigation reports of Transportation Safety Investigation Center between 2014-2020, it has been observed that the main possible causal/contributing factors for the shipboard fire/explosion casualties were related with the violations of the ISM-Safety Management System (SMS) requirements. Many previous studies in the relevant literature point out to the ISM/SMS-related causal/contributing factors as well. In conclusion, special attention should be paid to the effective implementation and continuous improvement of the ISM/SMS procedures related with shipboard fire safety for the prevention of shipboard fire/explosion casualties as well.

THE COASTS WE LIVE IN: CAN THERE BE A SINGLE DEFINITION FOR A COASTAL ZONE?

Throughout the history of humankind, people have settled along seashores. The gradual accumulation of population and industrial activity in coastal areas has created preconditions for coastalisation — the movement of people and socio-economic activity to marine coasts. To date, coastal areas have a higher rate of economic development, fostering migration and an influx of capital across the globe. Scholars and policymakers voice concerns about the asymmetry of regional development and the increasing anthropogenic impact on the coastal ecosystem. It reinforces the importance of coastal zone management. In this study, we use an example of the Baltic region to identify the coastalisation patterns in the Baltic region and answer the question, whether there can be a single definition of the coastal zone of the Baltic region. According to a broad definition, the Baltic macro-region is nearly all coastal and, consequently, all settlements are influenced by the coastalisation effect. We have studied the urban population dynamics in 128 cities of 45 coastal regions through the lens of various characteristics of a coastal city — the distance from the sea (10, 50, 100, and 150 km), location in a coastal region (NUTS 2), availability of a port and its primary maritime activity (tankers, cargo, fishing, passenger, recreational vessels and others). The research results suggest that despite the strong coherence of the Baltic region countries, there should not be a single delimitation approach to defining the coastal zone. Overall, the most active marine economic processes occur in the zone up to 10 km from the seacoast and 30 km from ports and port infrastructure. However, in the case of Sweden, Poland, and Latvia, the coastal zone can be extended to 50 km, and in Germany — up to 150 km inland.

Environmental and health impacts of electric service vessels in the recreational boating industry

Recreational boating is increasing in popularity worldwide, prompting challenges concerning pollution management, aquatic ecosystem preservation, and waterway access. Electric boating technology may provide a sustainable alternative to gasoline-powered boats, helping to address these challenges. In this study, the environmental and health impacts associated with using electric service vessels in the recreational boating industry were assessed. The focus was on pump-out boats, which enable the sanitary management of human waste generated onboard recreational vessels, as a tractable model of the whole recreational boating service sector. To query stakeholder attitudes about changing to electric technology, surveys were distributed to a nationwide network of pump-out boat service providers. A wide range of attitudes exists among this group towards the adoption of electric technology, and financial concerns dominate the anticipated barriers to electric technology adoption. A life-cycle assessment of electric and gasoline-powered pump-out boats revealed that electric boats have lower lifetime greenhouse gas emissions than do gasoline-powered equivalents, especially when electric boats are charged using renewable resources. Our study demonstrates that already-existing electric technology is a sustainable alternative to gasoline combustion in the boating service sector, and identifies the key challenges remaining for the widespread adoption of electric service boats.

Relation Dynamic Shear Stress and Wake Boat Waves Energy

Coastal area is the most populated throughout the world due to its business activities especially those involves commercial or recreational vessels to bring people or goods. Inadvertently, heavily vessels traffic will create effect on shoreline, riverbank or estuaries in which resulting an erosion problem. Overcoming the problem, a few local state authorities are enforcing a regulation for the vessels to cruise along the coastline to minimize the erosion impact. This research was conducted to study the relationship of dynamic shear stress generated from wake boat and tidal flow induced energy at Kemaman river estuary, which located at Kemaman province, East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Evidence shows that erosion occurred along the riverbank, and it was confirmed that the vessels contribute to the erosion problem due to negligence of vessels’ speed. In addition, apart from the generated energy coming from the vessel, the dimension of the vessels also contributes to the erosion problem. The estimation of total energy created by each vessel is established by a formula through the relationship with wave energy under influenced of maximum wave height. The results indicate that increases in energy will increase the dynamic shear stress due to orbital wave velocity whereby it is a function of wave height generated by boat wave. Finally, the results also indicate addition minimum tidal flow rate and wake boat contributes higher dynamic shear stress as compared to mud bed shear stress. Therefore, it can be concluded that wake boat waves play a significant role in determining the riverbank erosion. The finding of this study serves some information as guidance to local state authority to impose regulation to community whom using the vessels to navigate through this estuary.

Investigating microsized anthropogenic particles in Norwegian fjords using opportunistic nondisruptive sampling

Norwegian fjord systems provide a host of ecosystem services and are important for recreational and industrial use. The biodiversity of Norwegian fjords has been—and still is—extensively studied since they are important for fishing and aquaculture industries. However, threats from plastic and microplastic pollution within the fjord systems are largely undocumented. Monitoring efforts of microplastic in Norway are limited to coastal biota monitoring, offshore sediments, and some investigations within Oslofjord. Here, we quantify anthropogenic microparticles in Norwegian fjord subsurface waters, including an analysis of distribution effects. Fifty-two samples were collected during repeated transits from Bergen to Masfjorden covering 250 km. Anthropogenic particles were identified in 89% of samples, with an average abundance within the fjord estimated to be 1.9 particles m−3. This report shows the ubiquitous nature of anthropogenic particles in the subsurface waters of a Norwegian Fjord system. Additionally, methods were validated for opportunistic nondisruptive sampling on-board vessels where microplastics are seldom monitored, including research vessels, commercial freight and transport, and recreational vessels. Further development and implementation of these methods in terms of sampling, chemical characterisation, and long-term monitoring will allow for microplastic quantification and can be easily adapted for worldwide implementation.

Recreational vessels without Automatic Identification System (AIS) dominate anthropogenic noise contributions to a shallow water soundscape

Recreational boating is an increasing activity in coastal areas and its spatiotemporal overlap with key habitats of marine species pose a risk for negative noise impacts. Yet, recreational vessels are currently unaccounted for in vessel noise models using Automatic Identification System (AIS) data. Here we conduct a case study investigating noise contributions from vessels with and without AIS (non-AIS) in a shallow coastal area within the Inner Danish waters. By tracking vessels with theodolite and AIS, while recording ambient noise levels, we find that non-AIS vessels have a higher occurrence (83%) than AIS vessels, and that motorised recreational vessels can elevate third-octave band noise centred at 0.125, 2 and 16 kHz by 47–51 dB. Accordingly, these vessels dominated the soundscape in the study site due to their high numbers, high speeds and proximity to the coast. Furthermore, recreational vessels caused 49–85% of noise events potentially eliciting behavioural responses in harbour porpoises (AIS vessels caused 5–24%). We therefore conclude that AIS data would poorly predict vessel noise pollution and its impacts in this and other similar marine environments. We suggest to improve vessel noise models and impact assessments by requiring that faster and more powerful recreational vessels carry AIS-transmitters.