An AIS-based approach to calculate atmospheric emissions from the UK fishing fleet

Abstract

h i g h l i g h t sAn AIS-based emissions calculation methodology for fishing vessels is introduced. Fuel-and AIS-activity-based emissions inventories for a fishing fleet are compared. Trawling and dredging vessels have complex engine loads that must be simulated. Using AIS data allows greater flexibility when aggregating and mapping emissions. AIS-based methods produce higher emissions estimates than fuel-based methods. a b s t r a c tThe fishing industry is heavily reliant on the use of fossil fuel and emits large quantities of greenhouse gases and other atmospheric pollutants. Methods used to calculate fishing vessel emissions inventories have traditionally utilised estimates of fuel efficiency per unit of catch. These methods have weaknesses because they do not easily allow temporal and geographical allocation of emissions. A large proportion of fishing and other small commercial vessels are also omitted from global shipping emissions inventories such as the International Maritime Organisation's Greenhouse Gas Studies. This paper demonstrates an activity-based methodology for the production of temporally-and spatially-resolved emissions inventories using data produced by Automatic Identification Systems (AIS). The methodology addresses the issue of how to use AIS data for fleets where not all vessels use AIS technology and how to assign engine load when vessels are towing trawling or dredging gear. The results of this are compared to a fuel-based methodology using publicly available European Commission fisheries data on fuel efficiency and annual catch. The results show relatively good agreement between the two methodologies, with an estimate of 295.7 kilotons of fuel used and 914.4 kilotons of carbon dioxide emitted between May 2012 and May 2013 using the activity-based methodology. Different methods of calculating speed using AIS data are also compared. The results indicate that using the speed data contained directly in the AIS data is preferable to calculating speed from the distance and time interval between consecutive AIS data points.

Environmental upgrading in global value chains: The potential and limitations of ports in the greening of maritime transport

“…Scope 3 covers a diverse group of major emitters (e.g., port employees, tenants, trains, trucks, and ships) with low issue visibility. Scope 3 is defined in different ways by the five ports (Table 3) Identification System (AIS), which tracks the movements of individual ships in real-time, can also provide future opportunities to estimate GHG emissions from individual ships (Miola et al, 2011;Goldsworthy and Goldsworthy, 2015;Coello et al, 2015). All our port interviewees welcome higher emission visibility, arguing that transparency will facilitate further environmental upgrading.…”

Operational profiles of ships in Norwegian waters: An activity-based approach to assess the benefits of hybrid and electric propulsion

“…Two of the thirteen vessel types (see Section 3.1) were excluded from the analysis: (i) fishing vessels and (ii) others. Fishing vessels, such as trawlers tow fishing gears, which results in high engine loads at relatively low speeds (Coello et al, 2015). Therefore, low speeds do not necessarily translate into low engine power for these vessels.…”

“…Several studies estimate emissions of air pollutants from shipping (Buhaug et al, 2009;Coello et al, 2015;Goldsworthy and Goldsworthy, 2015;Skjølsvik et al, 2000;Smith et al, 2014;Winther et al, 2014). These studies follow either one or a combination of two approaches, both of which rely on estimating fuel consumption.…”

Ship Behavior Analysis for Real Operating of Container Ships Using AIS Data

“…With this, it is possible to obtain the navigation information of ships in an accurate and quantitative manner. The AIS is required to be installed aboard all international voyaging ships larger than 300 gross tonnage (GT), all noninternational voyaging ships larger than 500 GT, and all passenger ships (IMO, 2003 As it is possible to observe the ship navigation information more easily and quickly, AIS data have been used in maritime research such as the investigation of traffic flow (Olindersson F et al, 2015), environmental pollution survey (Coello J. et al, 2015), and so on. Makino (2012) and Gao et al (2013) have shown that the analysis of historical ship navigation record using AIS data can reveal the characteristics of actual ship movement.…”