Shipping Pressures and Impacts on the Marine Environment

There is an increasing awareness that shipping exerts a range of pressures on the global oceans, from the major oil spills in the 1970s to emerging pressures such as the exhaust gas cleaning system (scrubber) discharge and underwater radiated noise. Ships can be compared to floating industries consisting of different onboard systems that give rise to chemical, biological, physical, and energy pollution. Shipping is recognized as the primary vector for the spreading of non-indigenous species and ship strikes are a priority threat for many aquatic species. In some regions, e.g., the Baltic Sea, the load of chemical pollutants from shipping dominates all other sources. Ship pollution prevention is primarily regulated through the International Maritime Organization, usually managing one onboard system, one ship at a time, largely neglecting cumulative impacts. There is thus an urgent need to bridge ship pollution prevention and marine environmental management.



Shipping is the backbone of global trade, and the shipping sector is a vital part of the blue economy, yet sustainable development of the sector is lagging behind. The current lack of adequate inclusion of shipping pressures and impacts in marine environmental management implies a risk of unpredicted deterioration of the marine environment, especially in coastal areas of intensive shipping activities. Increased knowledge of environmental pressures and impacts of shipping and their spatiotemporal scales and extents, is essential to enable science-informed policy- and decision-making and to motivate innovative solutions to reduce the environmental impact of shipping. Through a combination of experimental, observational, and modeling exercises there is great potential to advance our understanding of shipping environmental pressures and impacts, also in to the context of multiple stressors and cumulative effects. This will provide an important step towards proposed reduction measures, promoting development in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. The Third Shipping and Environment Conference in September 2023 will bring together researchers, policymakers, and industry to advance our understanding of the environmental impacts of shipping and the Research Topic will represent the interdisciplinary nature of this conference.



Manuscripts submitted to this Research Topic are expected to span a range of topics presented and discussed at the 2023 Shipping and Environment Conference. Submitted papers may address physical, chemical, biological, and energetic pressures as well as cumulative effects and holistic assessment of shipping impacts; Examples may include experimental work on the ecotoxicity of waste waters, physical disturbance from anchoring and wash, dispersal of pollutants in ship wakes and shipping lanes, and measurements of energy pollution in terms of noise and turbulence. Submissions are also encouraged for computational and modeling studies, big data analysis, and the use of Automated Identification System (AIS)-data e.g., for maritime monitoring purposes, conceptual frameworks, as well as socio-economic assessment of mitigation strategies. In addition to original research manuscripts, methods manuscripts are welcome to contribute to advanced understanding and strategies to overcome challenges related to onboard sampling. Submissions of Community Case Studies and Policy and Practice Reviews could be considered.