| GEOIDE researchers at three universities
are completing the most comprehensive database of Canadian marine
activity ever attempted – all in the name of saving sailors'
lives.
With no roads to follow, a ship at sea can go anywhere.
But when things go wrong and help is urgently needed, the Canadian
Coast Guard must get there quickly and efficiently. Being ready
– and in the right place – saves lives.
| Student Contributions to Marine
Safety
Graduate students are a critical component of GEOIDE
research. In the Marine Activity Geomatics and Risk
Analysis in the Coastal Zone project, they are
helping their supervisors assess and identify potential
risks to seafaring vessels. Here’s what three
students are contributing:
Helen Wu, a PhD candidate at Dalhousie
University, is studying the impact of weather on incidents
at sea, something that hasn’t been done on a large
scale before. Under the supervision of Dr. Pelot,
she is comparing weather patterns to vessel traffic
patterns and incident patterns. Wu is a former GEOIDE
Student Network Council member.
Kevin Pegler, a PhD student at the
University of New Brunswick, and David Coleman, Dean
of Engineering, are studying the use of selected satellite
pictures to identify recreational craft, compare them
with survey results, and extrapolate the amount of traffic.
Pegler received a GEOIDE Network of Centres of Excellence
Partners Research Scholarship in 2001.
Cindy Marven, a Master's student at
the University of Victoria, is working with geography
professor Dr. Peter Keller, Dean of Social Sciences,
to examine accident and traffic patterns on Canada's
west coast. Marven was awarded the Best Student Presentation
at the GEOIDE Conference in May 2003. |
|
In an exhaustive four-year study, Dr. Ronald Pelot's Dalhousie University
team is working with University of New Brunswick and University of
Victoria researchers to chart marine traffic – from ocean-crossing
supertankers to cove-hopping pleasure craft – to help the Canadian
Coast Guard limit the loss of life at sea.
The goal is to provide the Canadian Coast Guard, a partner and
major investor in the GEOIDE project called Marine Activity
Geomatics and Risk Analysis in the Coastal Zone, with a comprehensive
database of all marine activity and the computer tools to assess
risk and estimate demand for future search and rescue operations.
The Maritime Activity and Risk Investigation System, or MARIS, will
be handed over to the Coast Guard next year. A working version of
the system is already in place.
Creating the traffic database has been a huge task. It includes
data on all shipping traffic that has arrived and departed from
eastern Canada since 1988. That's more than 10,000 trips a year.
"We are using the points of origin, their destinations and
the points at which they report in," says Dr. Pelot. "One
of the main features of this software is to use those periodic points
to create feasible tracks. It took one person-year to do that."
From aquaculture to eco-tourism
And that was just shipping. The project is also tracking 10 years
of commercial fishing operations in Atlantic Canada, as well as
the St. Lawrence and the west coast. The raw data came from a variety
of databases at Fisheries and Oceans Canada. "For the smaller
boats, we simulate the traffic. We know the area they're in. We
know when they left and when they came back, so we can simulate
that," explains Dr. Pelot.
The database will include details on other types of seafaring traffic,
such as ferries in Atlantic Canada, ships used for fish farming
and whale-watching tours, and other commercial recreational traffic.
For example, one survey found there are some 300 coastal eco-tour
companies operating from the east coast to close to Quebec City.
And as Dr. Pelot points out, recreational craft are a more
difficult fleet to find.
"You can't map all of the waters of Canada to sample recreational
boating because it's too expensive. Based on targeted sampling and
surveys, however, we will be able to say, for example, 'This should
be the frequency on a nice summer day'," he says.
If only ships used roads
Creating a risk model is essential to predicting where accidents
will happen. But it's a far trickier art form when the subject is
ships at sea. Cars and trucks generally stick to the roads, making
traffic patterns easy to measure. "There are many risk analyses
of roads. They look at segments of roads or intersections. In risk
analysis we use the term 'exposure'," he explains. "Exposure
is much better defined with roads, because the scope is well defined.
You can set up traffic counters. There is nothing to keep fishing
vessels or recreational boats from going anywhere they want."
There are many factors underlying accidents at sea. Dr. Pelot's
team is looking at several variables such as the impact of the age
of the vessel, the cargo it is carrying, trip length (the length
of the trip within the Canadian area), the gross tonnage of the
vessel, and weather patterns.
Dr. Pelot's research focuses on the "what" and the "where"
of accidents at sea. "That's the mandate of our research. In
the end, it will be good to know the "why" because then
you can figure out what to do about it on the prevention side. Why
do these things happen? We're getting there."
www.geoide.ulaval.ca
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