Support measures

Timely and efficient communication on new offshore installations to all seafarers is very important to avoid destruction of aquaculture installations by ships sailing in restricted aquaculture zones.

Support for monitoring Support for monitoring

When a new zone for mariculture is in place, an NTM (Notice to mariners) should be forwarded more quickly so that these aquaculture zones appear on their digital navigation chart. For new installations, the coastguards can also use an ATON (Aid to Navigation, i.e. a navigation message or warning) whereby an emergency signal is continuously sent to all ships in the vicinity to notify them of an aquaculture farm in place (see also

Relevant type of aquaculture:

Fish Shellfish Seaweed

Relevant sea basin:

North

Relevant stage:

Prevention and reduction

Related Barriers:

  • There is a lack of timely and efficient communication on new offshore installations. Therefore, seafarers (fishing boats, recreational vessels...) are not always aware of new installations at sea, for example in the case when a new zone is restricted for shipping due to aquaculture activities. In the past, this has led to the destruction of aquaculture installations when ships sailed in restricted aquaculture zones.

Related Good Practice:

P&R GP1.1

Timely and efficient communications on new offshore installations

The dutch Noordzeeboerdeij is implementing various preventive measures to make the seafarm pilots visible on sea maps and prevent damage from other ships sailing through the installation. They positioned a measurement buoy equiped with AIS, big cardinal buoys and they actively call the ships that are close to sailing through the seaweed farm.