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Maritime accidents frequently occur in the Philippine archipelagic waters, often resulting in significant loss of life. These incidents highlight the urgent need for improvements in the country's maritime safety systems. By utilising accident data from the Philippine Coast Guard and the GISIS IMO databases, spatial analytical approaches were employed to determine incident distribution patterns and resulted in an overall depiction of the likelihood component of risk across the country's territorial waters. Kernel density and hotspot analysis revealed areas where incidents were concentrated and where statistically significant hotspots occurred. The Maxent tool was used to develop risk likelihood models for the incident locations using environmental rasters representing wind speed, significant wave height, depth, surface current, land distance and port distance. Model performance metrics including the AUC, TSS and Kappa were used to compare the two datasets and provide confidence on model robustness. Variable contribution figures showed that land distance is the most influential variable, with the majority of high-risk areas predominantly located near population centres. The resulting maps provide an intuitive and informative depiction of the characteristic patterns of maritime accidents in the country, identify areas of high risk requiring immediate attention and offer valuable insights to support strategies for improving and enhancing the country's maritime safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As in every business sector, the safety factor in fishing is very important. Although fishing boats are equipped with safety equipment, internalization of safety issues and increased awareness are crucial for the crew members as safety at sea is not a factor of on board equipment. Especially the fishermen's ignorance of the navigational restrictions and difficulties in fishing grounds may cause concerns. Since the Turkish Straits, which are two of the most dangerous and heavily trafficked straits in the world, fishermen must be aware of all meteorological, navigational and geographical restrictions. In this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the fishermen who navigate the straits to reach the fishing grounds or use the straits as fishery grounds in order to determine the safety awareness and navigational safety at sea. A total of 23 interviews with fishermen were undertaken. The interviews were audio recorded with the permission of the participants and analyzed by content analysis method. Findings indicated that the fishermen mostly ignored the safety factors and regarded the safety equipment as an expense item that created a financial burden. It was determined that navigational safety awareness was higher than safety awareness at sea. Lack of safety equipment on board of vessels was not determined but its availability was mostly due to periodic inspections.

The safety of people working at sea is a subject on which many studies have been carried out. One of the current improvements that has been implemented is the possibility of assigning medical support assistance vessels during specific periods of time, whilst undergoing certain activities or peak seasons in the industry such as fishing seasons. This article proposes an aid system that will support decision making when determining the positioning of such vessels at configurable time intervals, thus shortening the emergency response time. Real data from the vessels, such as coordinates, number of crew, type of fishing gear, etc., are used to carry this out. With the scope of testing the system out, real data from the Spanish fishing fleet in the Bay of Biscay and the medical support assistance vessels available to the Spanish State have been used throughout different seasons. The results obtained convey the "standby" positions for these vessels. The following study of this comparative positioning enables us to calculate the differences between the coordinates calculated by the system and the real positions specified throughout the fishing season. The study also reviews the possibility of improving the emergency response time that would be gained, by increasing the number of medical support assistance vessels for the same area, during the same period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most maritime accidents are caused by human error. To reduce these errors, increase safety, protect the marine environment, reduce the administrative burden, and optimize maritime trade, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) decided to implement a concept called e-Navigation. The term e-Navigation refers to the integration of the most modern information and communication systems, both on board and ashore. The research scope of this work is the safety of navigation of the ship during the port entrance. Particularly in this case, the elements that affect the safety of the ship during port entrance are analyzed in a case study of New York port. An adaptive model based on the Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) was created, which evaluates the decision-making elements and risk assessment for port entry. The model is adaptable in the context of the different port requirements. With the presented model, all entities (ships, shipping companies, and service providers) have insight into the estimated decision to enter the port based on the given elements. Further research needs to be continued on the issue of comparing the proposed model with similar models, and how much reliance on the model burdens or facilitates the Master's decision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Island governments have made decent work and social protection their highest policy priority, aiming to link them to the so-called blue economy sectors such as fisheries. The development of small-scale commercial fishing is primarily driven by transnational fisheries trade and depends on dive fisher labour force facing issues with deficits in decent work, health and safety, and safety at sea provisions. Given the macro-policy priorities for decent work in the transition of small island developing states (SIDS) to blue economy, this paper examines the development interventions in small-scale commercial fisheries trade that have exacerbated unsafe marine working conditions of dive fishers. Despite significant investments in developing commercial fisheries trade, the mismatch between macro-level decisions and micro-level labour needs has hardly been explored via the blue economy and sustainable development goal interlinkages. This study used a qualitative research approach to examine the unsafe working conditions of dive fishers and examined why dive-related accidents and fatalities occur in commercial fisheries in the first place. A systematic approach in the analysis of diving accidents helps the study to, firstly, highlight the gaps between macro policy and practice at the national and global levels. Secondly, the approach helps explore the need for a coherent approach to policy integration that bridges the gap between the macro and operational levels of small-scale fisheries labour force. The study analyses the International Labour Organization’s decent work instruments with SIDS sustainable development priorities for fisheries workforce and points out that governments must be responsible at the macro level for managing accidents at sea and building a safe diving workforce through competent marine and diving authorities.

For decades, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing has been a global threat to ocean sustainability, livelihoods and national security of coastal States, as well as the safety and human rights of fishing communities. It is a significant point of contention for the United Nations (UN), as it undermines many aspects of the Sustainable Development Goals. Being driven by profit maximisation, vessel owners involved in IUU fishing not only cut costs by flouting fisheries regulations, but also by compromising decent working conditions, crewing requirements, and safety of the vessel. Three UN Specialised Agencies – the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Labour Organization (ILO), and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) – have developed instruments relating to sustainable harvesting, working conditions, and vessel safety on board fishing vessels. Common to these instruments is that they contain port state measures for enforcement. Given the links between illegal vessels and poor safety and labour conditions, this allows for potential synergies in combatting IUU fishing and related problems through harmonisation of port inspections and interagency collaboration at national and regional level. In the year 2000, the Specialised Agencies established a Joint Working Group (JWG) with a specific focus on tackling IUU fishing and related issues. The JWG seeks to finds ways to co-develop strategies and utilise their respective international instruments to address the IUU problem. This paper reviews these instruments and evaluates how the UN Specialised Agencies work together to address IUU fishing and related matters through the JWG. The JWG has to date been somewhat unstructured, but recently updated and clearer terms of reference lay a stronger foundation for collaboration between the core partners, as well as extended collaboration with other actors, such as environmental NGOs. Understanding the interplay between social, economic, and ecological components of fisheries is crucial to eradicating IUU fishing and to a sustainable future. This leads us to conclude that there is a specific need for improved programmes and procedures within the JWG, as well as the creation of knowledge and capacity building programs for countries hardest hit by IUU fishing. • IUU fishing undermines many aspects of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. • An effective international response to IUU fishing must be collaborative. • The UN Specialised Agencies have adopted instruments that can together deter IUU fishing and related matters. • The FAO/IMO/ILO Joint Working Group (JWG) is a cooperative body set up to tackle IUU fishing and related matters. • Clearer work programmes and increased capacity-building would improve the JWG's response to IUU fishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]