The principles of constructing artificial neural networks for a quality control system for the operation of ship equipment related to environmental protection are considered. The concentration of harmful substances in exhaust gases and bilge waters depends on many factors related to both the condition of the equipment and external conditions. Analytically describing this dependence is extremely difficult, therefore, it is proposed to use artificial neural networks to monitor the state of equipment. The paper describes how to create a neural network such as a self-organizing feature map and methods for its training