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Cetaceans inhabit oceans worldwide, coexisting amidst the growing intensity of human activities in the aquatic environment, particularly motorized vessel traffic. Understanding spatial correlations is essential for devising appropriate responses to these impacts. Hence, this project delved into the spatial relationship between cetacean distribution and marine traffic activities in the Santos Basin, Brazil. Data from two different databases were collected: one detailing cetacean distribution and the other to documenting various types of marine traffic in general. A total of 2352 cetacean records and 718777 vessel records were obtained. Subsequently, Structural Similarity analyses were carried out to identify niche overlap, yielding a result of 0.88. Addition, analysis utilizing the Nearest Neighbor method and Kernel density were employed, to pinpoint overlapping records of marine traffic with cetaceans, generating heat maps. These findings facilitated the identification of the areas where marine traffic intersects with cetacean habitats, leading to the proposal of both mandatory and voluntary conservation strategies. Key recommendations include speed reduction and voluntary exclusion zones. It is anticipated that the implementation of these strategies in the study area will aid in the conservation of cetaceans and the broader biodiversity of Brazilian Marine Protected Areas. • P. blainvillei , M. novaeangliae , and T. truncatus showed high correlation with vessel distribution in the Santos Basin • Marine Protected Areas can use Management Plans to support cetacean conservation amid vessel conflicts. • Reducing vessel speed and adopting Voluntary Exclusion Zones (VEZs) are key strategies for cetacean conservation. • Conservation strategies should be discussed in the context of legal and penal considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last years, marine traffic dramatically increases. Marine traffic safety highly depends on the mariner's decisions and particular situations. The watch officer must continuously observe the marine traffic for anomalies because the anomaly detection is crucial to predict dangerous situations and to make a decision in time for safe marine navigation. In this paper, we present marine traffic anomaly detection by the combination of the DBSCAN clustering algorithm (Density- Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise) with k-nearest neighbors analysis among the clusters and particular vessels. The clustering algorithm is applied to the historic marine traffic data - a set of vessel turn points. In our experiments, the total number of turn points was about 3 million, and about 160 megabytes of computer store was used. A formal numerical criterion to com-pare anomaly with normal traffic flow case has been proposed. It gives us a possibility to detect the vessels outside the typical traffic pattern. The proposed meth-od ensures the right decisions in different oceanic scale or hydro meteorology conditions in the detection of anomaly situation of the vessel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic noise is a pollutant of global concern. While the effects of underwater noise pollution have been frequently studied in fish and mammals, our understanding of how this anthropogenic stressor affects marine reptiles is scant. Using a multichannel data logger equipped with a camera and hydrophone, we quantified behavioural responses of a free-ranging green turtle (Chelonia mydas) to vessel noise in the Galapagos Archipelago, an important nesting site in the eastern Pacific. We found that while travelling the turtle increased its vigilance with increasing vessel noise. However, when on the seabed the turtle did not increase its vigilance with increasing noise levels. Our findings illustrate that noise pollution has the potential to alter overall time budgets of animals. Identifying real-time responses of wild animals illustrate how in situ approaches allow to assess the effects of human activities on marine systems. • Underwater noise pollution around the Galapagos archipelago increases. • Real-time data are needed to assess potential impacts on the unique fauna. • Increasing noise levels predict changes in sea turtle behaviour. • Reducing noise at this UNESCO world heritage site is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine traffic poses a growing threat to wildlife in the marine environment, including Arctic seabirds, which are exposed to high vessel densities when breeding in coastal areas. However, little is known about the magnitude of the problem. Here, we utilized underwater acoustic monitoring to quantify marine traffic and above-water disturbances at two thick-billed murre colonies in Greenland in 2016. We detected a total of 307 vessels, and only 4 % was known from automatic monitoring systems. Based on proximity, noise emission, and boating behavior, we classified 11 vessels as disturbing and an additional 12 as potentially disturbing for the seabirds. One colony facing population decline was located closest to the main boating route and experienced 2–5 times more disturbances than the other (increasing) colony, suggesting a negative impact of marine traffic. Our study shows that underwater acoustics can be a useful method to quantify above-water disturbances of seabird colonies. • Marine traffic in the coastal areas can be a problem for seabird colonies. • Automatic vessel monitoring systems (AIS or VMS) underestimates marine traffic. • Underwater acoustics is useful to quantify vessel activity around seabird colonies. • In this study, 96 % of the vessels went undetected by AIS and VMS systems. • Proximity of seabird colonies to boating routes may predict disturbance levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International shipping, although considered a safe and environment-friendly form of transportation, has many direct and indirect impacts on cetaceans in many ways, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea, one of the world's busiest waterways. An AIS receiver located at 44.30 °N and 8.45 °E, operating between 3 May 2013 and 31 October 2014, provided a detailed description of the distribution, number, type and operation of vessels within the Pelagos Sanctuary, an international protected area dedicated to the conservation of marine mammals. A total of 3,757,587 km of vessel traffic was recorded from 82,831 transits by 4205 distinct vessels. The spatial and temporal distribution of traffic was not uniform and dependent on vessel type (0.00

Highlights: [•] This study evaluated the impact of boat noise on lobsters (Palinurus elephas). [•] Effects on lobsters were assessed using behavioural and biochemical parameters. [•] High levels of locomotor activity were observed in lobsters exposed to boat noise. [•] Exposure to noise produced significant high levels of haemolymphatic stress indexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the threat of ship strikes for marine predators such as whales, quantitative tools are needed that measure specific impacts without ignoring the many uncertain and stochastic elements of whale-vessel interactions. We developed a tool that focuses on one particularly complex aspect of the ship-strike problem: the encounter rate , the fraction of co-occurrences (i.e., times that whales and vessels occur within the same 1-km2) that result in an imminent collision. This tool uses iterative simulations, based in R, and basic inputs regarding marine traffic and whale biology to predict the rate at which the precise courses of the whale and the vessel intersect in space and time. The result of this simulator is a spatially explicit probability distribution of encounter rates, which can be summarized for reports as well as integrated into subsequent stages of a ship-strike impact analysis. We explain the design of this tool, provide its source code, and demonstrate its utility with four case applications. First, we estimate encounter rates for fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in Gitga'at First Nation waters (British Columbia, BC, Canada) and quantify the differences in encounter rate between vessel classes. Second, we predict encounter rates for the same area in 2030, by which time a new shipping lane is slated to be established in Gitga'at territory, highlighting the impact of shifting traffic composition vs. traffic volume. Third, we assess the sensitivity of these estimates to changes in vessel and whale characteristics, finding that vessel length is the most important determinant of the encounter rate, followed by whale speed. Fourth, we integrate the encounter rate estimator into a shipping impact assessment for Gitga'at fin whales. Our predictions indicate that this decade's traffic increase in Gitga'at waters alone could match Potential Biological Removal for coastal BC fin whales. However, the assumptions underlying our prediction require validation and further study. The encounter rate simulator is available in the R package, "shipstrike". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alegranza is the most northerly island of the Canary Islands archipelago, the first obstacle crossed by the Canary Current. From July to October 2020, six expeditions were led to the island to make a first inventory of marine debris and its possible source and origin. In total, 3667 objects weighing 321 kg were removed, excluding wooden objects. Of these, 97.7% were plastics, the most abundant being drink bottles (25.4%). While knowing the origin, source and pathway of debris is difficult, legible labels provided valuable information. In Alegranza, 66.7% of the legible bottle labels indicated Asian countries of manufacture, which is evidence that the source is maritime traffic in the region. The lobster trap license labels from the east coast of the United States and Canada were dated from 1999 to 2018, supporting both the exogenous origin and long lifetime in the ocean of these debris. • A first inventory of marine debris and its possible source and origin was done in Alegranza. • 3667 objects weighing 321 kg were removed, 97.7% were plastics. • PET drink bottles accounting 25.4% of debris. • 20.2% of the items came from maritime traffic and fisheries. • Lobster trap tags dated from 1999 to 2018 came from North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In order to obtain useful information from the huge amount of Automatical Identification System (AIS) data and improve the maritime safety, this paper is devoted to statistical analysis and mining of AIS data for the purpose of obtaining marine traffic knowledge. Firstly, this paper proposes a marine traffic data mining system which integrates Data Warehouse (DW) and Data Mining (DM) technologies. After pre-knowledge are introduced, the structure of the marine traffic data mining system is described in detail. Then, the protype of this system is realized. The statistical analysis method is used to access AIS DW for primary marine traffic knowledge, such as distribution by ship''s type and ship''s length in a harbor sea area. The DM tool designed by us is used to uncover the hidden knowledge. The results show that the system is steady and knowledge mined by this system is interesting to maritime safety administration and harbor administration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

SO x Emissions Control Areas (SECAs) have been established to reduce harmful effects of atmospheric sulfur. Typical technological changes for ships to conform with these regulations have included the combustion of low-sulfur fuels or installment of SO x scrubbers. This paper presents experimental findings from high-end real-time measurements of gaseous and particulate pollutants onboard a Roll-on/Roll-off Passenger ship sailing inside a SECA equipped with a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) and a scrubber as the exhaust aftertreatment. The ship operates between two ports and switched off the SO x scrubbing when approaching one of the ports and used low-sulfur fuel instead. Measurement results showed that the scrubber effectively reduced SO 2 concentrations with over 99% rate. In terms of fuel, the engine-out PM was higher for heavy fuel oil than for marine gas oil. During open sea cruising (65% load) the major chemical components in PM having emission factor of 1.7 g kg fuel −1 were sulfate (66%) and organics (30%) whereas the contribution of black carbon (BC) in PM was low (∼4%). Decreased engine load on the other hand increased exhaust concentrations of BC by a factor exceeding four. As a novel finding, the secondary aerosol formation potential of the emitted exhaust measured with an oxidation flow reactor and an aerosol mass spectrometer was found negligible. Thus, it seems that either DOC, scrubber, or their combination is efficient in eliminating SOA precursors. Overall, results indicate that in addition to targeting sulfur and NO x emissions from shipping, future work should focus on mitigating harmful particle emissions. [Display omitted] • Real-world emissions of a ship equipped with a scrubber were studied on-board. •Scrubber reduced SO 2 concentrations with over 99% efficiency. •PM during cruising was mainly sulfates (66%) and organics (30%), minorly BC (4%). •MGO fuel decreased sulfates and organics but increased BC compared to HFO fuel. •Secondary aerosol formation potential in the emitted exhaust was found negligible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indonesia harbours a high diversity of cetaceans, yet effective conservation is hampered by a lack of knowledge about cetacean spatial distribution and habitat preferences. This study aimed to address this knowledge gap at an adequate resolution to support national cetacean conservation and management planning. Maximum Entropy (Maxent) modelling was used to map the distribution of 15 selected cetacean species in seven areas within Indonesian waters using recent cetacean presence datasets as well as environmental predictors (topographic and oceanographic variables). We then combined the individual species suitable habitat maps and overlaid them with provincial marine spatial planning (MSP) jurisdictions, marine protected areas (MPAs), oil and gas contract areas, and marine traffic density. Our results reflect a great heterogeneity in distribution among species and within species among different locations. This heterogeneity reflects an interrelated influence of topographic variables and oceanographic processes on the distribution of cetacean species. Bathymetry, distance to- coast and the −200m isobaths, and chlorophyll-a concentration and sea surface temperature were important variables influencing distribution of most species in many regions. Areas rich in species were mainly related to coastal areas or insular-reef complexity, representing high productivity and upwelling-modified waters. Although some important suitable habitats currently fall within MPAs, other areas are not and overlap with oil and gas exploration activities and marine traffic, indicating potentially high risk areas for cetaceans. The results of this study can support national cetacean conservation and management planning, and be used to reduce or avoid adverse anthropogenic threats. We advise to consider currently unprotected suitable cetacean habitats in MPA and MSP development. • We address knowledge gaps on cetacean distribution and habitat preferences in Indonesia. • Highly suitable cetacean habitats were highlighted as priority areas for future spatial conservation. • The study is a basis for assessing the overlap between cetacean habitats, conservation areas, and anthropogenic threats. • Additional cetacean protection measures can be extended through MPA and MSP development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]