Reformation of students` educational achievements monitoring process in maritime educational institutions in 1990-1999 years of the XX century

The article highlights the historical improving of students` educational achievements monitoring process in maritime educational institutions in 1990-1999 of the XX century. Orders, reports, meetings of methodological associations and pedagogical meetings and other documents, the content of which is related to the educational activities of maritime educational institutions in general and monitoring, are analyzed. There was an urgent need for state monitoring of the education quality. Reforming the education ofUkraineand monitoring the academic achievements of students in maritime institutions in practice was associated with the emergence of testing and rating system

The automatic identification system of maritime accident risk using rule-based reasoning

International audienceCurrent maritime traffic monitoring systems are not sufficiently adapted to the identification of maritime accident risk. It is very difficult for operators responsible for monitoring traffic to identify which vessels are at risk among all the shipping traffic displayed on their screen. They are overwhelmed by huge amount of kinematic ship data to be decoded. To improve this situation, this paper proposes a system for the automatic identification of maritime accident risk. The system consists of two modules. The first automates expert knowledge acquisition through the computerized exploration of historical maritime data, and the second provides a rule-based reasoning mechanism

Small crafts role in maritime traffic and detection by technology integration

Maritime traffic has always played an important economic, strategic and transportation role for a maritime country. Small vessels, considering total maritime traffic in the Adriatic Sea, play an important role, although their numbers are often not considered as a potential security risk. Although small vessel accidents do not have damage potential as the large ones, they still need to be regarded as a significant risk to safety of navigation. The first part of this paper shows, thru analysis of SAR action statistical data, that the total number of all accidents is dominated by accidents involving small vessels. A particular problem in the maritime traffic monitoring is the fact that small vessels, because of their characteristics, have a reduced detection probability by modern monitoring technologies and as such can be used as a non-traditional security threat. With development of electronic and information technologies, sensor systems, remote sensing and detection systems, as well as global satellite systems, and the introduction of a legal requirement of AIS on board ships, maritime traffic control has become easier, more organized and more reliable. Although application of these technologies has brought some progress in maritime traffic monitoring, small and fast vessels that are not equipped with AIS system can still be relatively unnoticed in all increasing maritime traffic. For this reason, a solution is perceived in the integration of radar, satellite and electro-optical technologies. The conclusion of this study represents one maritime traffic monitoring possibility that could be a step towards increasing the detection probability of small vessels

Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Area to be Avoided (ATBA) Education and Monitoring Program

The National Marine Sanctuaries Act (16 U.S.C. 1431, as amended) gives the Secretary of Commerce the authority to designate discrete areas of the marine environment as National Marine Sanctuaries and provides the authority to promulgate regulations to provide for the conservation and management of these marine areas. The waters of the Outer Washington Coast were recognized for their high natural resource and human use values and placed on the National Marine Sanctuary Program Site Evaluation List in 1983. In 1988, Congress directed NOAA to designate the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (Pub. L. 100-627). The Sanctuary, designated in May 1994, worked with the U.S. Coast Guard to request the International Maritime Organization designate an Area to be Avoided (ATBA) on the Olympic Coast. The IMO defines an ATBA as "a routeing measure comprising an area within defined limits in which either navigation is particularly hazardous or it is exceptionally important to avoid casualties and which should be avoided by all ships, or certain classes of ships" (IMO, 1991). This ATBA was adopted in December 1994 by the Maritime Safety Committee of the IMO, “in order to reduce the risk of marine casualty and resulting pollution and damage to the environment of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary”, (IMO, 1994). The ATBA went into effect in June 1995 and advises operators of vessels carrying petroleum and/or hazardous materials to maintain a 25-mile buffer from the coast. Since that time, Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (OCNMS) has created an education and monitoring program with the goal of ensuring the successful implementation of the ATBA. The Sanctuary enlisted the aid of the U.S. and Canadian coast guards, and the marine industry to educate mariners about the ATBA and to use existing radar data to monitor compliance. Sanctuary monitoring efforts have targeted education on tank vessels observed transiting the ATBA. OCNMS's monitoring efforts allow quantitative evaluation of this voluntary measure. Finally, the tools developed to monitor the ATBA are also used for the more general purpose of monitoring vessel traffic within the Sanctuary. While the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary does not currently regulate vessel traffic, such regulations are within the scope of the Sanctuary’s Final Environmental Impact Statement/Management Plan. Sanctuary staff participate in ongoing maritime and environmental safety initiatives and continually seek opportunities to mitigate risks from marine shipping.(PDF contains 44 pages.

User applications unique to mobile satellites

As AMSC enters the market with its mobile satellite services, it faces a sophisticated user group that has already experimented with a wide range of communications services, including cellular radio and Ku-band satellite messaging. AMSC's challenge is to define applications unique to the capabilities of its dedicated L band satellite and consistent with the provisions outlined in its FCC license. Through a carefully researched approach to its three main markets (aeronautical, land mobile, and maritime) AMSC is discovering a wellspring of interest in corporate and general aviation, trucking companies, pipeline monitoring and control companies, maritime management firms, telecommunications companies, and government agencies. A general overview is provided of AMSC's FCC license and corporate history, and the specific applications unique to each user group is discussed

EO-ALERT: A Satellite Architecture for Autonomous Maritime Monitoring in Almost-Real-Time

This paper presents an overview of the maritime monitoring satellite architecture and results achieved by the EO-ALERT H2020 project. EO-ALERT proposes the definition and development of the next-generation Earth Observation (EO) data processing chain, based on a novel flight segment architecture that moves EO data processing elements from the ground segment to on-board the satellite, with the aim of delivering the EO products directly to the end user with very low latency; in almost-real-time, e.g. within 1 minute. This paper presents the EO-ALERT architecture, its performance and hardware, with a focus on its application to maritime scenarios. Performances are presented for multiple reference user scenarios; autonomous ship detection, for a service similar to the EMSA VDS, and extreme weather monitoring, for wind and wave. The ground test results using EO data show that the proposed architecture can deliver maritime EO products to the end user with latency lower than one-point-five minutes, for both SAR and Optical Very High Resolution (VHR) missions, demonstrating the viability of the architecture for almost-real-time maritime monitoring

Data Quality Assessment for Maritime Situation Awareness

International audienceThe Automatic Identification System (AIS) initially designed to ensure maritime security through continuous position reports has been progressively used for many extended objectives. In particular it supports a global monitoring of the maritime domain for various purposes like safety and security but also traffic management, logistics or protection of strategic areas, etc. In this monitoring, data errors, misuse, irregular behaviours at sea, malfeasance mechanisms and bad navigation practices have inevitably emerged either by inattentiveness or voluntary actions in order to circumvent, alter or exploit such a system in the interests of offenders. This paper introduces the AIS system and presents vulnerabilities and data quality assessment for decision making in maritime situational awareness cases. The principles of a novel methodological approach for modelling, analysing and detecting these data errors and falsification are introduced

Evaluation of the Wadden Sea Particularly sensitive Sea Area. On behalf of the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat.

The purpose of this document is to present the high level outcomes for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the Wadden Sea PSSA, seven years after its designation by the IMO. Key changes with regard to IMO and EU shipping policy are identified and described, followed by a review of ‘expert’ opinion focused on the issues relating to PSSAs. The development of an evaluative framework and the resulting findings are introduced and discussed in context. Using existing data against this evaluative framework we conclude that six key elements require action in order to fully describe the efficacy of the designation, and our recommendations to address these concerns are presented.<br/

Is existing legislation fit-for-purpose to achieve Good Environmental Status in European seas?

Recent additions to marine environmental legislation are usually designed to fill gaps in protection and management, build on existing practices or correct deficiencies in previous instruments. Article 13 of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires Member States to develop a Programme of Measures (PoM) by 2015, to meet the objective of Good Environmental Status (GES) for their waters by 2020. This review explores key maritime-related policies with the aim to identify the opportunities and threats that they pose for the achievement of GES. It specifically examines how Member States have relied on and will integrate existing legislation and policies to implement their PoM and the potential opportunities and difficulties associated with this. Using case studies of three Member States, other external impediments to achieving GES are discussed including uses and users of the marine environment who are not governed by the MSFD, and gives recommendations for overcoming barriers