Intense Shipping Research Articles

A survey of water quality in areas of Albanian ports

This study report data on physical-chemical parameters and on concentrations of organic pollutants in marine water samples of Albanian ports. Nutrients, PH, temperature, conductivity, TSS, DO, BOD, COD, chlorines, sulfates, magnesium and calcium ions were the indicators used for evaluation of water quality. Also, organic pollutants (organochlorine pesticides, PCBs, PAH and benzene) were determined in seawater samples. Albania is facing by Ionian and Adriatic seas in a coastline of more than 300 km. Several ports are in function in Albanian coastline. Ship transport and many activities (automobile transport, mechanical activities, deposits, etc.) are the main factors of water pollution in port areas. Water samples from seven ports (the main Albanian ports) starting from Saranda port in the South to Shengjini port in the North, were analyzed in this study. Sampling was realized in May 2023. Based on physical-chemical indicators the water in the port of Saranda was the cleanest water, while Porto-Romano, Petrolifera and the fishing port in Zvernec was the most polluted one. Organic pollutants were detected in all water samples. Presence of the degradation products of pesticides may be related with previous uses of them. Presence of PCBs can be because of atmospheric deposition (volatile congeners), water currents and mechanical businesses (heavy congeners). PAHs and Benzene were detected on more than 70% of the analyzed samples. Intense ship and automobile transport in the port areas, mechanical businesses discharge and hydrocarbon processing i(Petrolifera and Porto-Romano) can be main factor for their presence. Water currents and new arrivals from the rivers can influence the levels and profile of pollutants. The found levels of organic pollutants in water samples of Albanian ports were higher than reported levels in previous studies for the Adriatic Sea (Albania coastline).

The influence of heavy shipping traffic on the structure and dynamics of sea ice in the southwestern Kara Sea

The development of the Northern Sea Route and the beginning of year-round transit shipping require not only the production of new icebreakers and ice-class vessels, but also the development of a specialized hydrometeorological support system for ice shipping. For the analysis of satellite data and the development and validation of ice forecasts, actual field data on the ice cover is required. This data can only be obtained from shipboard observations; however, scientific expeditions are rarely organized during the winter. In order to obtain new data over the area of intensive shipping, two expeditions were organized on board of nuclear icebreakers in the southwestern Kara Sea (“LED-SMP” expeditions) in 2023 and 2024. Specialized hydrometeorological maintenance of ice shipping in the southwestern Kara Sea together with the research expeditions “LED-SMP” carried out in the same place and time on board the nuclear icebreakers revealed the influence of the technogenic factor on the sea ice structure and dynamics was revealed. In winter and spring, two main routes are used for navigation in the southwestern Kara Sea: through the Kara Gate Strait and north of Cape Zhelaniya. In April 2024, a unique situation occurred when, due to the difficult ice conditions east of the Kara Gate Strait, the entire ship traffic was directed north of Cape Zhelaniya. In preparing a long-term ice forecast, it was noted that after the redirection the natural development of ice processes changed. At the beginning of the winter period 2024,

Disentangling eukaryotic biodiversity patterns from man‐made environments (port and marina) and nearby coral reefs in the Red Sea: A focus on the surveillance of non‐indigenous species

AbstractMan‐made environments such as ports and marinas are gateways for many marine non‐indigenous species (mNIS) transported via shipping worldwide. These habitats are often the focus of biosecurity programs for the surveillance of mNIS, but there have been few studies investigating the distribution of biofouling communities in natural habitats and nearby artificial habitats. Here, following a DNA metabarcoding approach, we tested for differences in spatio‐temporal trends of biological pioneer communities established after one‐week colonization between a port, a marina, and coral reefs using two different matrices (PVC panels and water samples) in the central Red Sea. In addition, we aimed to investigate differences in the prevalence of mNIS between man‐made and natural habitats during the summer and winter seasons, and whether the number and patterns of mNIS differed between the port (an active historic port subjected to intense shipping traffic) and the marina (a small recently developed marina utilized by small and medium research vessels). The community structure from samples collected at the two coral reefs showed greater similarity to each other compared to that obtained from the port and the marina. A total of 29 mNIS were detected across all sites, of which 16 were reported in the Red Sea for the first time, with Jeddah port hosting 28 mNIS. By applying standardized methodological approaches, this study provides comparable data regarding the monitoring of introduced and invasive species, particularly within the data‐poor Red Sea, a major shipping corridor. This study serves as the foundation for implementing a robust and rapid baseline monitoring system to assess native biodiversity and facilitate the early detection of NIS.

Imposex in Stramonita haemastoma: a preliminary comparison between waterborne and dietborne exposure

400 adult individuals of the Stramonita haemastoma were collected from a pristine beach in Ceara State, Brazil. These organisms were transplanted into a marina with intense shipping activities and were fed weekly with oysters obtained from the same beach from which they were collected, being exposed only to the bioavailable organotins in the environment, without accounting for diet (waterborne exposure). 30 individuals were analyzed every 2 weeks after transplantation to investigate the development of imposex. After 15 days, 90% of the females had developed imposex (VDSI I-III, RPLI 3.22), with 100% of the females developing imposex after 30 days; at the end of the experiment, the VDSI levels ranged between I-V. These results were compared with those of a previously published study performed simultaneously in which gastropods obtained in same area were fed in the laboratory with oysters from the same marina in which the gastropods were transplanted (dietborne exposure). Despite the higher levels obtained through exposure via water at the end of 90 days, both exposure routes induced imposex in 100% of the females of the S. haemastoma. However, aqueous exposure induced higher levels, possibly due to the constant contact between the organisms and contaminants.

Small sea with high traffic - what is the biofouling potential of commercial ships in the Baltic Sea

Despite the Baltic Sea being one of the most intensive shipping regions in the world the potential magnitude of the biofouled hulls in this region is unknown. This study estimated the biofouling load to Baltic Sea Region (BSR) based on the wetted surface area (WSA) method with regard to country, ship type and donor bioregion. WSA flux reached 656 km2, of which 86% was associated with ships operating inside and 14% was WSA flux brought by ships from outside of the Baltic Sea. Most of the WSA was transported to Swedish, Finnish and Danish ports as well. The highest WSA flux was assigned to roll-on/roll-off, passenger and general cargo ships. The high biofouling potential in BSR indicates a potential high risk to the environment and, therefore there is an urgent need for appropriate guidelines to be introduced into daily use by the commercial shipping community.

Трематоды рода Apophallus (Trematoda: Heterophyidae) в фауне многоклеточных паразитов Perca fluviatilis (Perciformes, Actinopterygii) в дельте Волги

The living conditions of aquatic organisms in the Volga-Caspian Sea Shipping Canal are determined by a high level of complex multifactor anthropogenic load. As a link in a unified international transport system, the canal serves as an invasive corridor for the settlement of alien organisms, including parasites. The fauna of multicellular parasites Perca fluviatilis (Perciformes) in the canal area was studied. 6 taxa of parasitic organisms have been registered. The nematode Eustrongylides excisus occupies a dominant position in the fauna of macroparasites P. fluviatilis. An alien trematode, Apophallus muehlingi, was discovered associated with the invasive mollusk Lithoglyphus naticoides; the parasite has the status of a codominant species. A specific parasite widely distributed in perch fish populations in the Volga delta, Apophallus donicus, has not been registered. The high degree of invasion of perch by A. muehlingi during the three-year study period indicates the stability of the parasitic subsystem “A. muehlingi – P. fluviatilis”, previously uncharacteristic for this host species in the lower reaches of the Volga. Currently, more favorable conditions have developed for the invasion of perch A. muehlingi than A. donicus in certain areas of the Volga delta. Thus, structural changes were found in the host-parasite relationships systems of the trematodes of the genus Apophallus, which appear in the form of a partial restructuring of the species and host structure of the fauna of macroparasites P. fluviatils in the investigated area of the river. This situation is determined by factors that are largely anthropogenic in nature – changes in the living conditions of hosts and parasites, caused by a combination of fluctuations in the level of the Caspian Sea and the discharge of the Volgograd hydroelectric station, intensive shipping (large volume of cargo transportation) and high fishing pressure. The most likely significant additional factor of changes in the nature of infection of P. fluviatils by trematodes of the genus Apophallus is currently a decrease in the stocks of populations of some massive species of cyprinid fish – the second intermediate hosts of A. muehlingi, for which the parasite is defined as specific.

Extent and Sources of Heavy Metal Pollution from Discharging Rivers in the Bohai Region, China

Studies have investigated heavy metal (HM) contamination in the Bohai Sea, but primarily in seawater and associated sediments, or in single rivers. For the first time, 31 major rivers discharging into the Bohai Sea were analyzed, along with 27 uniformly distributed coastal seawater samples and selected invertebrates. The elements measured were As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn. We calculated the ‘geo-accumulation index’, the ‘metal enrichment factor’, and the ‘contamination factor’, coupled with the ‘pollution load index’, and our findings suggested low-grade HM pollution, although two conspicuous associations of elements were found to stand out in particular: One is a combination of As, Cu, Cr, and V in seawater samples that may indicate pollution from intensive ship traffic. The other shows a significant pattern of Cr, Pb, and Zn in water samples from rivers discharging between Yantai and Weihai on the Shandong Peninsula at the south edge of the Bohai Sea. This is primarily a farming area, with a moderate share of industrial enterprises. Investigations including fertilizers and pesticides point to agricultural practices and textile printing/chrome tanneries as the causes of contamination. Overall, a significant decline was found in the HM load in the rivers, apart from those discharging into the Yellow Sea section.

Hydrographical implications of ship-induced turbulence in stratified waters, studied through field observations and CFD modelling

Ship-related energy pollution has received increasing attention but almost exclusively regarding radiated underwater noise, while the effect of ship-induced turbulence is lacking in the literature. Here we present novel results regarding turbulent wake development, the interaction between ship-induced turbulence and stratification, and discuss the impact of turbulent ship wakes in the surface ocean, in areas with intense ship traffic. The turbulent wake development was studied in situ, using Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) and conductivity, temperature, depth (CTD) observations of stratification, and through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling. Our results show that the turbulent wake interacts with natural hydrography by entraining water from below the pycnocline, and that stratification influences the turbulent wake development by dampening the vertical extent, resulting in the wake water spreading out along the pycnocline rather than at the surface. The depth and intensity of the turbulent wake represent an unnatural occurrence of turbulence in the surface ocean. The ship-induced turbulence can impact local hydrography, nutrient dynamics and increase plankton mortality due to physical disturbance, especially in areas with intense traffic. Therefore, sampling and modelling of e.g., contaminants in shipping lanes need to consider hydrographic conditions, as stratification may alter the depth and spread of the wake, which in turn governs dilution. Finally, the frequent ship traffic in estuarine and coastal areas, calls for consideration of ship-induced turbulence when studying hydrographic processes.

An Analytical Model for Estimating Ship-Related Emissions in Port Areas

Intensive shipping activity in port areas is considered one of the leading problems in the maritime sector, which has a negative effect on climate change and local air quality. The compilation of detailed inventories of combustion gases released by ships should therefore provide a more accurate overview of emission levels, which can serve as a basis for analysing impacts on the port community and lead to the establishment of better environmental measures. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop an adaptable and relevant analytical model capable of integrating a comprehensive methodology with large databases of ship movements and technical details to provide clear ship-related emission estimates in large port areas. Considering the lack of research in Croatia that includes the mentioned approach and the insufficient monitoring of air pollutants in ports, the model was used to produce an initial overall emissions inventory for the Port of Split, the busiest passenger port in Croatia. In the model, bottom-up logic with an energy-based method was applied to detailed technical and near-real-time shipping data from AIS, creating the first high-density spatial and temporal overview of shipping emissions in the City port basin. The results showed strong seasonal fluctuations and large discrepancies in the quantities emitted between different ship types and operating modes. The analysis therefore raised the question of the need for the future development and implementation of a scalable system that would provide a more transparent and efficient overview of the important characteristics of air pollution from ships and port areas.

Wind Waves Web Atlas of the Russian Seas

The main parameters of wind waves in the World Ocean are connected with global climate change. Renewable energy technologies, intensive shipping, fishery, marine infrastructure, and many different human marine activities in the coastal zone and open sea need knowledge about the wind-wave climate. The main motivation of this research is to share various wind wave parameters with high spatial resolution in the coastal zone via a modern cartographic web atlas. The developed atlas contains information on 13 Russian Seas, including the Azov, Black, Baltic, Caspian, White, Barents, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, Chukchi, Bering Seas, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Sea of Japan/East Sea. The analysis of wave climate was based on the results of wave modeling by WAVEWATCH III with input NCEP/CFSR wind and ice data. The web atlas was organized using the classic three-tier architecture, which includes a data storage subsystem (database server), a data analysis and publishing subsystem (GIS server), and a web application subsystem that provides a user interface for interacting with data and map services (webserver). The web atlas provides access to the following parameters: mean and maximum significant wave height, wave length and period, wave energy flux, wind speed, and wind power. The developed atlas allows changing the map scale (zoom) for detailed analysis of wave parameters in the coastal zones where the wave model spatial resolution is 300–1000 m.

Vessel noise exposures of harbour seals from the Wadden Sea

The North Sea faces intense ship traffic owing to increasing human activities at sea. As harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) are abundant top predators in the North Sea, it is hypothesised that they experience repeated, high-amplitude vessel exposures. Here, we test this hypothesis by quantifying vessel noise exposures from deployments of long-term sound and movement tags (DTAGs) on nine harbour seals from the Wadden Sea. An automated tool was developed to detect intervals of elevated noise in the sound recordings. An assessment by multiple raters was performed to classify the source as either vessels or other sounds. A total of 133 vessel passes were identified with received levels > 97 dB re 1µPa RMS in the 2 kHz decidecade band and with ambient noise > 6 dB below this detection threshold. Tagged seals spent most of their time within Marine Protected Areas (89 ± 13%, mean ± SD) and were exposed to high-amplitude vessel passes 4.3 ± 1.6 times per day. Only 32% of vessel passes were plausibly associated with an AIS-registered vessel. We conclude that seals in industrialized waters are exposed repeatedly to vessel noise, even in areas designated as protected, and that exposures are poorly predicted by AIS data.

НЕФТЯНОЕ ЗАГРЯЗНЕНИЕ ОМАНСКОГО ЗАЛИВА ПО ДАННЫМ РАДИОЛОКАЦИОННОГО МОНИТОРИНГА ИЗ КОСМОСА

The results of satellite radar monitoring oil pollution in the Gulf of Oman carried out in the period from January 2017 to April 2020 are analyzed. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images from the European satellites Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-1B and a geoinformation approach were used for this that makes it possible to fairly unambiguously determine oil spill causes and their sources. During the monitoring 2584 oil spill patches was detected on 730 SAR images whose total area is about 4972 km2. It is shown that the main oil spill source in the Gulf of Oman is intensive shipping by sea, including the tanker fleet, and the United Arab Emirates waters and the approaches to the Strait of Hormuz turned out to be the most polluted waters of the gulf.

Offshore Hydrocarbon Exploitation Target Extraction Based on Time-Series Night Light Remote Sensing Images and Machine Learning Models: A Comparison of Six Machine Learning Algorithms and Their Multi-Feature Importance

The continuous acquisition of spatial distribution information for offshore hydrocarbon exploitation (OHE) targets is crucial for the research of marine carbon emission activities. The methodological framework based on time-series night light remote sensing images with a feature increment strategy coupled with machine learning models has become one of the most novel techniques for OHE target extraction in recent years. Its performance is mainly influenced by machine learning models, target features, and regional differences. However, there is still a lack of internal comparative studies on the different influencing factors in this framework. Therefore, based on this framework, we selected four different typical experimental regions within the hydrocarbon basins in the South China Sea to validate the extraction performance of six machine learning models (the classification and regression tree (CART), random forest (RF), artificial neural networks (ANN), support vector machine (SVM), Mahalanobis distance (MaD), and maximum likelihood classification (MLC)) using time-series VIIRS night light remote sensing images. On this basis, the influence of the regional differences and the importance of the multi-features were evaluated and analyzed. The results showed that (1) the RF model performed the best, with an average accuracy of 90.74%, which was much higher than the ANN, CART, SVM, MLC, and MaD. (2) The OHE targets with a lower light radiant intensity as well as a closer spatial location were the main subjects of the omission extraction, while the incorrect extractions were mostly caused by the intensive ship activities. (3) The coefficient of variation was the most important feature that affected the accuracy of the OHE target extraction, with a contribution rate of 26%. This was different from the commonly believed frequency feature in the existing research. In the context of global warming, this study can provide a valuable information reference for studies on OHE target extraction, carbon emission activity monitoring, and carbon emission dynamic assessment.

The climate impact of high seas shipping.

Strict carbon emission regulations are set with respect to countries' territorial seas or shipping activities in exclusive economic zones to meet their climate change commitment under the Paris Agreement. However, no shipping policies on carbon mitigation are proposed for the world's high seas regions, which results in carbon intensive shipping activities. In this paper, we propose a Geographic-based Emission Estimation Model (GEEM) to estimate shipping GHG emission patterns on high seas regions. The results indicate that annual emissions of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) in shipping on the high seas reached 211.60 million metric tonnes in 2019, accounting for about one-third of all shipping emissions globally and exceeding annual GHG emissions of countries such as Spain. The average emission from shipping activities on the high seas is growing at approximately 7.26% per year, which far surpasses the growth rate of global shipping emission at 2.23%. We propose implementation of policies on each high seas region with respect to the main emission driver identified from our results. Our policy evaluation results show that carbon mitigation policies could reduce emissons by 25.46 and 54.36 million tonnes CO2-e in the primary intervention stage and overall intervention stage, respectively, with 12.09% and 25.81% reduction rates in comparison to the 2019 annual GHG emissions in high seas shipping.

A Fully Coupled CFD-DMB Approach on the Ship Hydroelasticity of a Containership in Extreme Wave Conditions

In this paper, we present a fully coupled computational fluid dynamic (CFD) and discrete module beam (DMB) method for the numerical prediction of nonlinear hydroelastic responses of a ship advancing in regular and focused wave conditions. A two-way data communication scheme is applied between two solvers, whereby the external fluid pressure exported from the CFD simulation is used to derive the structural responses in the DMB solver, and the structural deformations are fed back into the CFD solver to deform the mesh. We first conduct a series of verification and validation studies by using the present CFD–DMB method to investigate the global ship motion, vertical bending moments (VBMs), and green water phenomenon of the ship in different regular wave conditions. The numerical results agreed favourably with the CFD–FEA model and experimental measurements. Then, the extreme ship motions are studied in focused wave conditions to represent extreme sea conditions that a ship may experience in a real sea state. According to the conclusion drawn from the numerical simulations, it is founded that the focused wave case will lead to the increase of the longitudinal responses of the hull compared to regular wave condition, i.e., the heave, pitch, and total VBMs rise about 25%, 20% and 9%, respectively. In focused wave conditions, intensive ship responses and severe waves cause stronger slamming phenomena. It is found that the instantaneous impact pressure from the focused wave is higher and sharper compared to the regular waves and comes along with the obvious green-water-on-deck phenomena.

Investigating the Pollutants of Marine Shipping Emissions Along the East China Sea by Combining in-situ Measurements and Automatic Identification System

Marine shipping emissions have important impacts on air quality and climate. This type of anthropogenic emission remains largely unclear due to complex vessel types and activities. A coastal site near the Ningbo-Zhoushan port along the East China Sea was selected for this study, representing one of the hotspot regions globally with the most intensive shipping activities, in combination with vessels for both domestic and international transportation. Long-term temporal variations in key gaseous and particulate pollutants were obtained at the site using in-situ measurements, and the vessel speed associated with each classified vessel type was obtained according to the automatic identification system (AIS). In combination of backward trajectories, we were able to identify the periods predominated by the surrounding vessel emissions (in warm seasons, dominated by vessels in full operation or idle mode) or influenced by continental outflow (in cold season). We found that emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and black carbon (BC) aerosol were highly correlated with high-speed vessels, whereas carbon monoxide (CO) was likely related to lower operation speed. The total particulate matter (PM) was not directly linked to vessel activities. The enhancement factor in operation mode compared to that in idle mode was approximately 1-4 for most pollutants. This direct ambient observation of the emissions from a range of mixed vessel types may provide a basis for evaluating the shipping emission inventory.

Alien amphipods (Arthopoda; Crustacea) in the Tista Estuary, Halden, southeastern Norway

Two new amphipods for Norway Melita nitida and Corophium multisetosum (Crustacea; Amphipoda) were registered in brackish waters in the Tista Estuary in Halden, southeastern Norway. Both species were found in the samples from Tista’s outlet into the Idde Fjord, C. multisetosum in the beach zone and M. nitida at about 4 m depth. Melita nitida is a North American species first found in Europe in the Netherlands in 1998, and since then dispersed into the Baltic Sea via the Kiel Canal and now also found several places on the German Baltic Sea coast and in the Black Sea. Corophium multisetosum was collected even before the 1920s in Western Europe, and is considered native for Europe, whereas its relationship to North America is more ambiguous. From the British Isles and the Netherlands, it seems to have spread to Germany, Poland, Denmark and Sweden, and at present Norway. Until now the two species were found in small numbers at the Norwegian sites and their influence on the total benthic community is probably negligible in this initial phase. The Tista Estuary in Halden apparently appears to be a hotspot for alien brackish water species in Norway. Generally estuaries, with their combination of brackish water jointly with their unsaturated ecological niches and intensive international ship traffic, seem to possess the highest potential infection rate for aquatic systems with alien acrozoobenthic species.

Artificial intelligence for data collection and application of the probabilistic-logistic method in ship traffic control systems of seaports

An increase in the number of ships, their sizes, speeds and displacement increases the number of accidents, especially in places with intensive shipping. Control over the positions of vessels, their movement, identification of intentions is exercised by the vessel traffic control system (VTCS). A new generation VTCS that can predict optimal and safest traffic patterns in water areas requires artificial intelligence and forecasting elements. Currently, the fifth generation VTCSs are being implemented. They can plan optimal and safe traffic patterns in the water areas, depending on various external factors controlled by artificial intelligence. The VTCS is a traffic control body. Due to the intensive ship traffic, the control over water traffic is becoming more and more urgent. The “probabilistic” model and the target-object can stop moving when the signal is lost, and it is impossible to continue moving along the same route with the same speed. This must be taken into account when using software [4,5]. The knowledge base for developing a logistic-probabilistic method is available, but there is no real application, due to the lack of massive implementation of artificial intelligence in the software.

In situ observations of turbulent ship wakes and their spatiotemporal extent

Abstract. In areas of intensive ship traffic, ships pass every 10 min. Considering the amount of ship traffic and the predicted increase in global maritime trade, there is a need to consider all types of impacts shipping has on the marine environment. While the awareness about, and efforts to reduce, chemical pollution from ships is increasing, less is known about physical disturbances, and ship-induced turbulence has so far been completely neglected. To address the potential importance of ship-induced turbulence on, e.g., gas exchange, dispersion of pollutants, and biogeochemical processes, a characterisation of the temporal and spatial scales of the turbulent wake is needed. Currently, field measurements of turbulent wakes of real-size ships are lacking. This study addresses that gap by using two different methodological approaches: in situ and ex situ observations. For the in situ observations, a bottom-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) was placed at 32 m depth below the shipping lane outside Gothenburg harbour. Both the acoustic backscatter from the air bubbles in the wake and the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy were used to quantify the turbulent wake depth, intensity, and temporal longevity for 38 ship passages of differently sized ships. The results from the ADCP measurements show median wake depths of 13 m and several occasions of wakes reaching depths > 18 m, which is in the same depth range as the seasonal thermocline in the Baltic Sea. The temporal longevity of the observable part of the wakes had a median of around 10 min and several passages of > 20 min. In the ex situ approach, sea surface temperature was used as a proxy for the water mass affected by the turbulent wake (thermal wake), as lowered temperature in the ship wake indicates vertical mixing in a thermally stratified water column. Satellite images of the thermal infrared sensor (TIRS) onboard Landsat-8 were used to measure thermal wake width and length, in the highly frequented and thus major shipping lane north of Bornholm, Baltic Sea. Automatic information system (AIS) records from both the investigated areas were used to identify the ships inducing the wakes. The satellite analysis showed a median thermal wake length of 13.7 km (n=144), and the longest wake extended over 60 km, which would correspond to a temporal longevity of 1 h 42 min (for a ship speed of 20 kn). The median thermal wake width was 157.5 m. The measurements of the spatial and temporal scales are in line with previous studies, but the maximum turbulent wake depth (30.5 m) is deeper than previously reported. The results from this study, combined with the knowledge of regional high traffic densities, show that ship-induced turbulence occurs at temporal and spatial scales large enough to imply that this process should be considered when estimating environmental impacts from shipping in areas with intense ship traffic.

Antofagasta Region in northern Chile, a potential nursing ground for the Southern right whale Eubalaena australis

The Chile-Peru subpopulation (CPe) of the Southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) is classified as Critically Endangered following intense whaling in past centuries. Due to their very low abundance, information on breeding and feeding grounds is also scarce. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly applied in marine mammal research thanks to their low cost and relative ease of use. This case study documents a Southern right whale nursing in Bahía Moreno (23º S), Antofagasta, in northern Chile through high-resolution images taken by UAV of an adult in July 2019 and the same whale with a neonate in August. Combined with earlier data we hypothesize that the Antofagasta Region may be a potential calving and nursing ground for the CPe subpopulation. Given the intense shipping traffic and fishing activities around the Mejillones Peninsula and Antofagasta port, priorly recommended marine spatial planning to help avoid net entanglements and vessel collisions of fin and humpback whales may also contribute to the conservation of the CPe stock.