Why Marine Mammals Matter to Your Terrestrial Export Pipeline Project

Author(s):  
Andrea Ahrens ◽  
Jeffrey Green ◽  
Paul Anderson ◽  
Linda Postlewaite

Increases in export pipeline development can result in a corresponding increase in marine transportation activities and the potential to escalate adverse interactions with marine wildlife. Ship traffic introduces risks of vessel strikes as well as the amount of underwater noise produced in the marine environment. Growing public and scientific concern over the potential effects of increasing ship traffic on marine wildlife mean that even terrestrially-based pipeline projects need to start considering the effects of shipping in developing environmental mitigation programs for their export operations. Northern Gateway is proposing to construct and operate twin pipelines between Alberta and British Columbia, and an associated tank and marine terminal for export operations. While Northern Gateway will not own or operate any of the tankers, they have committed to implementing a comprehensive marine mitigation, monitoring and research program, including measures to reduce ship strikes and effects of underwater noise on marine mammals. Vessel strikes can cause severe or fatal injuries. Higher relative risk exists where shipping traffic overlaps with increased densities of marine mammals. Vessel speed has been positively correlated with the degree of risk and injury; consequently, Northern Gateway has set maximum year-round speed restrictions of 10–12 knots for all Project-related tankers calling at the marine terminal, with further restrictions of 8–10 knots in key areas. Other large vessels in this region currently travel at speeds of 16–21 knots. Mandatory speed restrictions will also reduce the Project’s contribution to underwater noise. Effects of underwater noise on marine mammals include temporary habitat avoidance, reduced feeding efficiency, behavioural change, increased stress, and communication masking. Acoustic modeling conducted for the project predicted that reducing vessel speeds from 15 to 9.6 knots would decrease underwater noise input by nearly 12 dB, making the zone of ensonification 2–3 times smaller than in the absence of mitigations. Purpose-built escort tugs will use best commercially-available noise-quieting technology and speed restriction areas will be refined through six-years of surveys and a quantitative vessel strike analysis. Vessel traffic is not unique to Northern Gateway; however, through minimizing their incremental contribution, they hope to serve as an industry example. This approach to minimizing effects of routine marine export operations is unique in the shipping industry in Canada and the United States. If other proponents were to adopt similar types of measures, Northern Gateway believes that the marine environment would see some net benefits in terms of a reduction in adverse effects on marine mammals.

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suganjar Suganjar ◽  
Renny Hermawati

<p><em>Safety management in the shipping industry is based on an international regulation. It is International Safety Management Code (ISM-Code) which is a translation of SOLAS ‘74 Chapter IX. It stated that t</em><em>he objectives of the Code are to ensure safety at sea, prevention of human injury or loss of life, and avoidance of damage to the environment, in particular, to the marine environment, and to property.it is also</em><em> requires commitment from top management to implementation on both company and on board. The implementation of the ISM-Code is expected to make the ship’s safety is more secure. The ISM-Code fulfillment refers to 16 elements, there are; General; Safety and Environmental Protection Policy; Company Responsibility and Authority; Designated Person(s); Master Responsibility and Authority; Resources and Personnel; Shipboard Operation; Emergency Preparedness; Report and Analysis of Non-conformities, Accidents and Hazardous Occurrences; Maintenance of the Ship and Equipment; Documentation; Company Verification, Review, and Evaluation;  Certification and Periodical Verification; Interim Certification; Verification; Forms of Certificate. The responsibility and authority of Designated Person Ashore / DPA in a shipping company is regulated in the ISM-Code. So, it is expected that DPA can carry out its role well, than can minimize the level of accidents in each vessels owned/operated by each shipping company.</em></p><p><em></em><strong><em>Keywords :</em></strong><em> ISM Code,</em><em> </em><em>Safety management, </em><em>Designated Person Ashore</em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Manajemen keselamatan di bidang pelayaran saat ini diimplementasikan dalam suatu peraturan internasional yaitu <em>International Safety Management Code</em> (<em>ISM-Code</em>) yang merupakan penjabaran dari <em>SOLAS 74 Chapter IX</em>-<em>Management for the safe operation of ships</em>. Tujuan dari <em>ISM-Code</em> <em>“The objectives of the Code are to ensure safety at sea, prevention of human injury or loss of life, and avoidance of damage to the environment, in particular, to the marine environment, and to property”</em> dan  <em>ISM-Code</em> menghendaki adanya komitmen dari manajemen tingkat puncak sampai pelaksanaan, baik di darat maupun di kapal.  Pemberlakuan <em>ISM-Code</em> tersebut diharapkan akan membuat keselamatan kapal menjadi lebih terjamin. Pemenuhan <em>ISM-Code</em> mengacu kepada 16 elemen yang terdiri dari ; umum; kebijakan keselamatan  dan perlindungan lingkungan; tanggung jawab dan wewenang perusahaan; petugas yang ditunjuk didarat; tanggung jawab dan wewenang nahkoda; sumber daya dan personil; pengopersian kapal; kesiapan menghadapi keadaan darurat; pelaporan dan analisis ketidaksesuaian, kecelakaan dan kejadian berbahaya; pemeliharaan kapal dan perlengkapan;  Dokumentasi; verifikasi, tinjauan ulang, dan evaluasi oleh perusahaan; sertifikasi dan verifikasi berkala; sertifikasi sementara; verifikasi; bentuk sertifikat. Tugas dan tanggungjawab <em>Designated Person Ashore/DPA </em>didalam suatu perusahaan pelayaran<em>, </em>telah diatur di dalam <em>ISM-Code.</em>  Sehingga diharapkan agar DPA dapat melaksanakan peranannya dengan baik, sehingga dapat menekan tingkat kecelakaan di setiap armada kapal yang dimiliki oleh setiap perusahaan pelayaran.</p><p class="Style1"><strong>Kata kunci</strong> : <em>ISM Code</em>, Manajemen keselamatan, <em>Designated Person Ashore</em></p>


Fluids ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Emmanuele D’Andrea ◽  
Maurizio Arena ◽  
Massimo Viscardi ◽  
Tommaso Coppola

An increasing attention has recently been paid to the effect of the underwater noise field generated by ship activities on the marine environment. Although this problem is widely discussed in international treaties and conventions, it has not yet found a consolidated technical-scientific treatment capable of quantifying the level of underwater noise emissions produced by naval systems. As part of a national research collaboration, a novel code has been developed to predict noise propagation according to the Ray Tracing approach. Such optical geometry-based technique allows for calculating the Transmission Loss (TL) trend in its respective contributions: geometrical loss (due to the distance between the source and receiver), dissipation loss (due to the characteristics of the propagation environment), and reflection loss (due to the surfaces that delimit the field). The simulation requires as input parameters the source info as spatial position, frequency, and sound pressure level (SPL) as well as the sea properties like seabed depth, the speed of sound profile, the layers thickness the water column is divided into, the sea salinity, temperature, and pH. The simulation code provides the SPL spatial distribution useful as a fast industrial tool in the future studies addressed to identify the emission limits for the protection of marine wildlife.


2021 ◽  
Vol 134 (4) ◽  
pp. 316-320
Author(s):  
Taylor Shedd ◽  
Allison Northey ◽  
Shawn Larson

Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW, Orcinus orca) may be found year round in the Salish Sea. These orcas comprise three matrilineal pods (J, K, and L) and were listed as Endangered under the Canadian Species at Risk Act in 2003 and under the United States Endangered Species Act in 2005 because of prey scarcity, vessel noise and disturbance, small population size, and exposure to toxins. Since 1993, the Whale Museum has been operating Soundwatch, a boater education program for vessels. Soundwatch personnel are on the water in the central Salish Sea throughout the summer educating boaters on how to maneuver near marine mammals legally and documenting vessel regulation violations and marine mammal presence and behaviour. Starting on 24 July 2018, Soundwatch documented an adult female SRKW of J pod (J35) carrying a dead neonate calf. J35 continued to carry her dead calf for 17 consecutive days covering ~1600 km. Her story riveted the attention of the people of the Salish Sea as well as people around the world, evoking empathy for J35 and her loss as well as the plight of the Endangered SRKW population. Here, we tell her story and evaluate whether the behaviour J35 displayed toward her dead calf was an example of epimeletic behaviour, animal grief.


2021 ◽  
pp. 152450042110538
Author(s):  
Maïa Sarrouf Willson ◽  
Craig Turley ◽  
Lamees A. Daar ◽  
Hussein Al Masroori ◽  
Hussain Al Muscati ◽  
...  

Background Entanglement of marine species, particularly endangered sea turtles and cetaceans, in abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear is a major conservation concern. Focus of the Article This case study applies Community-Based Social Marketing (CBSM) to reduce marine wildlife net entanglement in the waters surrounding Masirah Island, a marine biodiversity hotspot in Oman. Importance to the Social Marketing Field The study demonstrates the use of social marketing tools in biodiversity conservation, bringing new knowledge to the cross-application of these two fields. Methods The CBSM methodology was applied to select behaviours, identify barriers and benefits, develop strategies and design a pilot study. The responsible disposal of derelict nets in skip bins was selected as the target behaviour, and a mix of behavioural change tools was applied to achieve change: convenience (installation of three skip bins), education (installation of informative signs, distribution of awareness posters, one-to-one engagement with fishers on the beaches), prompts (installation of signs and posters on vessels) and social norms (one-to-one engagement with key influencers and decision makers). The monitoring of behaviour change took place through structured observations over 23 weeks, focussing on the number of nets disposed of in the allocated skip bins. Results Results showed a low level of behaviour adoption rate by skiff and launch vessel fisheries, respectively, 5.36% and 2.58%. Positive results were observed for a short time but did not reach the estimated target value throughout the study period. Recommendations for Research Our pilot study did not lead to broad-scale implementation and we recommend further awareness and engagement with the target audience, trials of various behaviour change tools and increase field monitoring time. We further recommend the application and funding of behaviour change methods applied to fishers with the incorporation of conventional financial, conservation and regulatory tools to support resource management. Limitations Our results show that focussing on specific behaviours with appropriate measurement is both resource and time demanding to solve pressing conservation problems, particularly ones generated by complex industries such as fishing. Various lessons, useful for other social marketers, have been drawn from our evaluation of the overall study.


2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1797) ◽  
pp. 20142103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlee A. Tucker ◽  
Tracey L. Rogers

Predator–prey relationships and trophic levels are indicators of community structure, and are important for monitoring ecosystem changes. Mammals colonized the marine environment on seven separate occasions, which resulted in differences in species' physiology, morphology and behaviour. It is likely that these changes have had a major effect upon predator–prey relationships and trophic position; however, the effect of environment is yet to be clarified. We compiled a dataset, based on the literature, to explore the relationship between body mass, trophic level and predator–prey ratio across terrestrial ( n = 51) and marine ( n = 56) mammals. We did not find the expected positive relationship between trophic level and body mass, but we did find that marine carnivores sit 1.3 trophic levels higher than terrestrial carnivores. Also, marine mammals are largely carnivorous and have significantly larger predator–prey ratios compared with their terrestrial counterparts. We propose that primary productivity, and its availability, is important for mammalian trophic structure and body size. Also, energy flow and community structure in the marine environment are influenced by differences in energy efficiency and increased food web stability. Enhancing our knowledge of feeding ecology in mammals has the potential to provide insights into the structure and functioning of marine and terrestrial communities.


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