ESTIMATION OF DAMAGES TO FISHING VESSELS CAUSED BY MARINE DEBRIS, BASED ON INSURANCE STATISTICS

Transcription

1 792 ESTMATON OF DAMAGES TO FSHNG VESSELS CAUSED BY MARNE DEBRS, BASED ON NSURANCE STATSTCS Shuichi Takehama Fishing Groun Environment Conservation Division Fisheries Agency, the Government of Japan Tokyo, Japan ABSTRACT An estimation has been mae of the number of accients, the amount of amage, an losses to an of fishing vessels cause by marine ebris, base on ata available from the insurance covering fishing vessels. Such accients, amage, an losses cause by ebris in the sea inclue those resulting from collision with rifting objects, entanglement of floating objects in the propeller blaes, an clogging of the water intake or the engine cooling system. Accoring to insurance statistics, losses attribute to the above-mentione causes were Y4.4 billion in 1985, whereas the losses an amage sustaine by all the fishing vessels of <1,000 gross tons in Japan are estimate at Y6.6 billion per year. NTRODUCTON Since ancient times, many ifferent kins of objects rifting in the sea have enangere ships. n the past, rifting woo an blocks of ice usually mae up such riftage. More recently new kins of ebris incluing iscare plastic materials have emerge. Accients an trouble cause by lost or iscare fishing nets an ropes becoming entangle in propeller blaes, an the overheating of engines resulting from plastic ebris clogging the water intake of an engine cooling system have been reporte. However, there are very limite statistical ata available showing the number of vessels amage by marine ebris an the magnitue of the amage an losses. The reason for this lies in the fact that there are few systems for collecting such statistical ata. On the other han, at least part of such amage is covere by insurance, an by analyzing insurancerelate ata, it is possible to obtain approximate figures on the number of cases an the amount of amage. n Japan, there is an insurance system for fishing vessels of 1,000 gross tons (GT) base on the Compensation Law Concerning Damages, etc., to Fishing Vessels. Establishe for the purpose of stabilizing the fishing inustry which, is sai to be subject to a great many angers, this system n R. S. Shomura an M. L. Gofrey (eitors), Proceeings of the Secon nternational Conference on Harine Debris, 2-7 April 1989, Honolulu. Havaii. U.S. Dep. Comer., NOAA Tech. Memo. NHFS. NOAA-TM-NMFS-SWFsC

2 793 operates with a subsiy from the central government. As many as 60% of all fishing vessels of <1,000 GT are covere by this insurance system. This insurance covers a wie range of amage to fishing vessels incluing amage such as sinking an fire, amage to the cargo incluing fish caught an store on boar, an loss of life of the crew. Also covere by the insurance are accients resulting from marine ebris. This report illustrates the accients an trouble sustaine by fishing vessels in Japan as ocumente by a nationwie organization hanling amage insurance (the Fishing Vessel nsurance Center, which is principally in charge of management of the insurance system) an estimates the magnitue of the losses an amage as well. METHODS The statistical ata use in this report have come from two publishe reports relating to the amage to fishing vessels owing to accients: Statistics of Fishing Vessel nsurance (hereinafter calle the nsurance Statistics) an Report of Special Analyses on Accients of Fishing Vessels nsure (hereinafter calle the Special Report), The nsurance Statistics is issue annually, an the Special Report was compile base on a etaile analysis of 1985 insurance ata. n the tables of the nsurance Statistics, amages sustaine are classifie accoring to those cause by ba weather such as heavy win an rough seas, those cause by engine trouble such as a faulty lubrication system, those cause by human error in operating the ship an machines, those cause by rifting objects (this category is ambiguous but consiere to be collision with rifting objects other than ice blocks), an those cause by foreign material tangle in the propellers. The cases to be iscusse in this report will relate to amage cause by riftage, entanglement of foreign material in the propellers, an engine trouble resulting from trouble with the water cooling system. Using the Special Report, more etaile analysis was possible. Accients or trouble cause by rifting objects were classifie into three categories: collision, cooling system trouble, an entanglement. As for the accients or trouble with the cooling system, ata inicating particular amage points were also provie. As regars amage cause by rifting objects, the etails given are those prepare especially for this report, obtaine by reprocessing the original computer master tape use for the Special Report. RESULTS Fishing Vessel nsurance Statistics Liste in Table 1 are the number of fishing vessels insure, the number of fishing vessels registere with the Fisheries Agency, the Government of Japan, an the percentage of insure fishing vessels (number of insure fishing vessels an number of registere fishing vessels). n

3 794 Table 1.--Number of fishing vessels registere, the number insure, an the ratio of vessels insure to total number of vessels (by gross tons (GT) an year) (Fishing Vessel nsurance Center 1985; Fisheries Agency of Japan 1975, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986). Vessels (GT) Number of fishing vessels registere (1) <5 316, , , , , ,397 28,038 28,216 28,304 28, ,555 1,574 1,436 1,361 1, ,022 3,640 3,523 3,372 3, ,000 3,223 3,312 3,325 3,302 3,272 Total 345, , , , , ,838 28,488 1,105 2,764 3, ,417 < ,000 Total Number of fishing vessels insure (2) 167, , , , ,744 16,592 24,396 24,411 24,495 24,473 1,918 1,200 1,120 1, ,580 3,049 2,860 2,651 2,441 2,371 2,498 2,527 2,530 2, , , , , ,142 Ratio of vessels insure to total vessels (2)/(1) 210,628 25, ,340 2, ,563 < , Total , of the vessels smaller than 5 GT, >200,000 units were insure, or 58% of all the registere fishing vessels of that size group. (All fishing vessels in Japan must be registere when they are built.) The percentage of insure fishing vessels of 5 GT an greater is as high as about 80%, even though the total number of such ships is much smaller than the number of ships of <5 GT. Figure 1-1 an Figure 2 show the frequency of accients an the average amount of amage per accient, respectively, for the riftage, floating ice blocks, entanglement of the propeller blaes, an trouble with the engine cooling system base on the nsurance Statistics.

4 795 Drifting objects Entanglement Drifting ice Frequency w Ea 0 Engine cooling system Figure Change in frequency of accients (number of accients/number of vessels insure) by type of accient. (Source: Statistics of fishing vessel insurance. Fisheries Agency of Japan.) <5 CT 5-20 CT GT GT 100-1,000 CT Figure Change in frequency of accients cause by rifting ice blocks by size class of vessel. (GT - gross tons). (Source: Statistics of fishing vessel insurance. Fisheries Agency of Japan.)

5 796 <5 GT 5-20 GT GT GT 100-1,000 GT Frequency El a!el 0 Figure Change in frequency of accients or trouble with engine cooling system by size class of vessel (GT - gross tons). (Source: Statistics of fishing vessel insurance. Fisheries Agency of Japan. ) <5 GT 5-20 GT GT GT GT Frequency a N Figure Change in frequency of accients cause by floating objects by size class of vessel (GT - gross tons). (Source: Statistics of fishing vessel insurance. Fisheries Agency of Japan.)

6 797 Figure Change in frequency of accients cause by entanglement by size class of vessel (GT - gross tons). (Source: Statistics of fishing vessel insurance. Fisheries Agency of Japan.) Thousan yen Drifting ice Engine cooling system Drifting objects Entan lament El 0 P c ( Figure 2.--Change in average cost of amage per accient by type of accient. Because the rifting ice category is so large, the cost shown in this figure has been ivie by 10. (Source: Report of special analysis on accients of fishing vessels insure. Fishing Vessel nsurance Center.)

7 798 The amage to the engine cooling system has a variety of causes incluing plastic bags. Damage by "rifting objects" has resulte from collision with objects floating in the sea, as escribe later. Damage by "entanglement" of fishing net an ropes in the propeller blaes inclues amage one not only by lost or iscare objects but also by fishing nets in actual use. Except for amage one by "rifting objects," it was impossible to isolate the amage cause by only marine ebris using the nsurance Statistics. These are, however, the only ata available which enable us to review a historical change in accients, an therefore, marine ebris as a cause of the change is inferre by their use. n terms of frequency of accients (number of accients per number of fishing vessels insure)] "rifting objects" is highest at about 10% (number of accient per number of insure vessels), which is more than twice the frequency attributable to other causes (Fig. 1-1). Conversely, the frequency of accients is very low when it comes to the amage one by "floating ice," since such amage is limite to specific seasons an to specific areas of the sea. The frequency of accients resulting from all categories shown has remaine stable in the past 5 years. However, with regar to the accients cause by rifting objects, this frequency is about 40% higher than it was in 1975, a percentage that has remaine stable for the past 5 years. Looking at the average cost per accient by type, "floating ice" stans out at 41 million or more suggesting that whereas its frequency of occurrence is low, the cost cause amage can be very great (Fig. 2). n contrast, accients cause by rifting objects an entanglement in the propellers are low in cost, averaging aroun 4100,000 per case. With regar to ifferences in the frequency of accients by size of fishing vessels, the frequency of "floating ice" is high in the case of ships of 100 GT or more, an is quite low with those of <5 GT. This is a natural consequence, because small ships rarely operate in a sea fille with rifting ice blocks uring winter months (Fig. 1-2). The frequency of accients associate with the engine cooling system is highest for fishing vessels of 5-20 GT, next highest for those in the GT class, an lowest for those of <5 GT. n any of these groups, the frequency of accients tens to ecline slightly over time (Fig. 1-3). The frequency of accients cause by "floating objects," is highest with ships of 5 to 20 GT, followe by those of <5 GT an those 20 through 50 GT. t is the lowest with ships of 50 GT or larger. n most of those brackets, the frequency of accients remains nearly the same. For vessels smaller than 5 GT, the frequency of accients increase by 60% uring the perio from 1975 to 1982, an stabilize thereafter (Fig. 1-4). n the entanglement of foreign materials in the propellers, too, the frequency is highest with vessels of 5 to 20 GT, followe by those <5 GT, 20 to SO GT, an 50 to 100 GT. t is lowest with ships of 100 GT or larger. n terms of changes in frequency with time, ships in the of 20 to 50 GT an 50 to 100 GT classes are graually increasing in number, whereas the frequency in the other brackets has remaine stable (Fig. 1-5).

8 799 Special Report on Accients of nsure Fishing Vessels The purpose of the Special Report was to prouce a etaile analysis base on ata provie by the fishing vessel insurance. n orer to o so, statements requesting payment were reprocesse to be collectively inicate on the form appearing in Figure 3. On this form, the types of accients are classifie (e.g., collision, fire, grouning, entanglement, engine trouble) as are the causes of the accients (e.g., floating ice, rifting objects, inaequate watch), an by combining these categories, it is possible to etermine the number of accients of ifferent kins that were cause by floating objects an the cost as well. On the form, trouble with the engine cooling system is broken own into trouble resulting from plastic ebris an that cause by other factors. Accients Cause by Floating Objects temize in Table 2 by size of fishing vessel are the number of accients classifie by types of accients cause by riftage an the amount of amage expresse in terms of money. Figures 4 an 5 show the frequency of accients (the number of accients ivie by the number of insure fishing vessels) by type of accient an the average amount of amage per accient, respectively. n 1985, there were a total of 32,8484 accients resulting from rifting objects. There were 22,605 cases (69%) cause by collision, 5,809 cases (18%) with engine-relate troubles, an 4,287 cases (13%) associate with entanglement. One hunre an forty-seven cases i not fall uner any such classification (Table 2). The cost of amage totale 44.4 billion. t is sai, in general, that the average such cost goes up as the size of the ship becomes larger. With ships <20 GT, the cost associate with engine trouble is the highest, an in the case of larger ships, the cost resulting from collision is the highest (Fig. 5). n all size categories, accient frequencies are highest for those cause by collision, whereas the frequencies are lowest for engine trouble in all but the smallest ship size bracket. The frequency for the 5-20 GT category is highest in all types of accients, whereas the frequency is low for size brackets of 50 GT or more, except for entanglement of foreign material in the propellers. The frequency of such entanglement is relatively high for 50 to 100 GT vessels, an low for those of <5 GT (Fig. 4). Comparison of Accients Cause by Marine Debris With Those of Other Causes Figure 6 shows accients cause by floating objects as a percentage of all accients, by type of accient. The causes other than the riftage inclue entanglement with the fishing gears in actual use in the category of entanglement, an collision with submerge rocks in the category of collision. Collision as referre to here oes not inclue ship-to-ship collision or grouning.

9 800 1 (3) CAUSE OF EXCNE DAXAGE (1) Type of accient (2) Main cause of accient (3) Cause of engine amage Collision with ships Collision with ice blocks Collision with others Grouning Capsizing Fire Missing Sinking Water intrusion Damage by rough sea Entanglement Exp 10s ion Theft Damage by lightning Engine trouble Machine trouble Other Typhoon Other weather phenomenon naequate watch Autopilot system Floating ice Floating objects other than ice Careless hanling of fire mproper ship maintenance mproper machine maintenance ntentional amage by others mproper ship mooring mproper fishing operation mproper ship operation mproper machine operation Other nsufficient cooling resulting from clogging with plastic film. nsufficient cooling from other causes. nsufficient oil or eteriorate oil. Overloa. Breakage of crank pin or bolt. Dropping of outboar engine. Other. Figure 3.--Compilation form for the Special Report.

10 801 mwmoo... 0 m 0 01 N 00 N W. 2 N W f 3 : a z \ n Q) bd tu 9 n & Q) 3 z Q z \ P N a m 4 3 > 4 o ) - $ b D a 2 5 P P a Y > s. Q N l- W -- Q\ m m4m 0 l-i c-c U Q 2 \ C &i 0 m - 4 W.. N m W m.. Q N a u 0 c-c L 0 mlcmcv o o W ONWW...- NWW m N 4 ub 570 & Q) 9 C h P Q Q) a, 3 Q Q) la i P Q

11 802 4 GT 5-20 GT GT GT 1OO-1,OOO GT Frequency Collis f on Entanglement engine trouble Figure 4.--Frequency of accients cause by floating objects by type of accient an by size class of vessel (GT = gross tons). (Source: Report of special analysis on accients of fishing vessels insure. Fishing Vessel nsurance Center.) mousan <5 GT 5-20 GT GT GT 100-1,000 GT 0 Q U collision entanglement engine trouble Figure 5.--Average cost of amage per accient cause by floating objects by type of accient an by size class of vessel (GT - gross tons). (Source: Report of special analysis on accients of fishing vessels insure. Fishing Vessel nsurance Center.)

12 803 Percentage 70 Collision Entanglement Engine trouble W a _....._._._......_.._ <5 GT 5-20 GT GT GT 100-1,000 GTAverage Figure 6.--Percentage of the number of accients cause by floating objects in relation to total number, by type of accient, an by size class of vessel (GT - gross tons). (Source: Report of special analysis on accients of fishing vessels insure. Fishing Vessel nsurance Center.) Percentagewise, engine trouble cause by floating objects is low on the whole, an the percentage ecreases in reverse proportion to the size of ships. For vessels <50 GT, the percentage of entanglement trouble cause by riftage increases with vessel size, but with the vessels >SO GT, the percentage tens to ecrease. n cases of collision, the percentage is the highest for vessels in the 5 to 20 GT category, an ecreases as vessel size becomes larger. t may be generalize that the percentage of amages attributable to rifting objects is lower in reverse proportion to the size of ships (Fig. 6).

13 804 Accients or Trouble With the Engine Cooling System The Special Report gives statistical ata etailing the number of accients or engine trouble an the amount (in yen) of amage resulting from improper engine cooling cause by plastic ebris clogging the cooling water intake. n 1985, there were 2,576 accients with amage to engine cooling systems cause by plastic ebris, which were covere by insurance. The cost of amages totale 4614 million. The frequency of accients an the average cost per accient causing amages to the engines are shown in Figures 7 an 8, respectively. n those figures, causes of amage to the cooling system by other than plastic ebris are ae for reference. The frequency of accients cause by plastic ebris is lower for fishing vessels of larger size with the exception of those <5 GT. The average amage, on the other han, increases with large ships. There is slightly more engine trouble cause by factors other than plastic ebris than trouble attributable to plastic ebris, by size group of fishing vessels. The specific cause of these other accients is not known. The cost per accient is nearly equal to or somewhat lower than that cause by plastic ebris. Accoring to Usui of the Fishing Vessel nsurance Center, who compile the Special Report trouble with the cooling water systems occurs frequently as a result of clogging of the inlet ports for cooling water with rifting objects such as woo or grass. Since the average cost per accient is nearly the same, it is conceivable that accients cause by other than plastic ebris are similar to those cause by plastics. This seems to support Usui's statement. Figure 9 shows the locations of main amage to the engines cause by a eficiency of the cooling system, which in turn was cause by plastic ebris, as clarifie in the Special Report. The amages to cyliner heas accounte for 57%; cyliner liners, 19%; an pistons, 14%. DSCUSSON The ata of the Special Report iffer somewhat from the nsurance Statistics for Accoring to the nsurance Statistics, the number of insure vessels is 236,142, whereas the number given in the Special Report is 245,826, greater than the former by 9,700 ships or 4%. This ifference is mostly in small ships, an therefore oes not seem to aversely affect a comparison between the two sets of ata. As shown in Figure 10, in comparing the frequencies of accients cause by collision with floating objects (category "floating objects" from the nsurance Statistics an "collision with floating objects" from the Special Report), they were foun nearly the same in all ship size brackets. The frequency of "entanglement" accients given in the nsurance Statistics coincies well with the frequency of "entanglement" accients in the Special Report. The frequency of "floating ebris-relate entanglement" in the Special Report is much lower when compare to the

14 805 Erequenc y 0.02: Plastic ebris Other factors m : t <5 GT 5-20 GT ~'r GT GT Average Figure 7.--Frequency of accients of engine trouble cause by plastic ebris an other factors by size class of vessel. (Source: Report of special analysis on accients of fishing vessels insure. Fishing Vessel nsurance Center.) Thousan Plastic ebris Other factors Yen a 1400,._ _..._ <5CT 5-20 G'r GT GT 100-1,000 CT Figure 8.--Average cost per accient of engine trouble cause by plastic ebris an other factors by size class of vessel. (Source: Report of special analysis on accients of fishing vessels insure. Fishing Vessel nsurance Center.)

15 806 other two (Fig. 11). Because of this, "rifting objects" in Figure 1-1 represents changes in frequency of collisions with objects rifting in the sea, an "entanglementn in the same figure inclues those accients cause by other than floating ebris, as previously state. Further, Figure 11 shows that the percentage of entanglement accients cause by other than floating ebris becomes lower as the vessels become larger, when compare to entanglement accients cause by floating ebris. This is unerstanable, because human activities incluing fishing are much higher in the coastal areas than farther offshore an opportunities of encountering mooring ropes or fishing nets in actual use are greater in coastal waters. The ensity of marine ebris istribution also lessens in the offshore waters. The Special Report inicates that the frequencies of all three types of accients (collision, entanglement, an engine trouble) show the same tenency, becoming lower as the vessel size become larger with the exception of vessels of <5 GT (Fig. 4). Such results are unerstanable, because the istribution ensity of rifting objects is high in the coastal waters in general, an small ships ten to operate in the vicinity of the coast. Several reasons can be conceive for the low frequency of accients involving ships <5 GT. These are: Many boats with outboar engines are inclue in this category an their engine an water intake are easy to monitor, making it easier to etect the start of trouble such as trouble with the cooling system. 0 Small vessels rarely operate at night. e Small vessels are easier to monitor aequately than larger vessels. Accoring to the Special Report, the amounts of amages covere by insurance an resulting from collision, entanglement, engine trouble, an other accients associate with objects floating in the sea were 42,659 million, W37 million, Y1,262 million, an Y76 million, respectively, for a total of %4,435 million. The total amount of such amage for all vessels in 1985 is estimate to be 46,608 million, a figure etermine by extrapolation using ratios of the number of insure ships to the number of fishing vessels that were registere, by size (tonnage). The estimate figure, however, is consiere to be an overestimation. t is unrealistic to think that all the fishing vessels registere actually operate in that year. (Some are not in use any more an have not yet been remove from the register.) However, there are no statistics covering the number of fishing vessels that i operate uring Furthermore, the statistical ata use may have some problems in their characteristics since they were not prepare for this type of analysis, but they are consiere to be pretty reliable. The actual size of the amage is thought to be somewhere between y4.4 billion an 46.6 billion. Such an amount is so huge that it calls for some review to etermine its appropriateness. The total fishery prouction in 1985 by fishery management units with vessels of

16 807 0 Cyliner hea (57%) piston (14%) 0 Cyliner liner (19%) Exhaust pipe (2%) 0 Other (8%) Figure 9.--Engine part which is reporte as amage most severely in an accient of engine trouble cause by plastic ebris. (Source: Report of special analysis on accients of fishing vessels insure. Fishing Vessel nsurance Center.) "Floating objects' from the nsurance Statistics 'Collioion with floating objects" from the Special Report Frequency c5 CT 5-20 CT G CT Figure 10.--Comparison of frequencies of accients cause by "floating objects" from the nsurance Statistics, an "collision with floating objects" from the Special Report. (Source: Report of special analysis on accients of fishing vessels insure. Fishing Vessel nsurance Center.)

17 808 Frequency 0.1 "Entanglement" from nsurance Statistics... "Entanglement" from Specia 1 Report "Floating ebris-relate entanglement" from Special Report ' 0- <5 GT 5-20 GT GT GT 100-1,000 GT Figure 11.--Comparison of frequency of entanglement accients. (Source: Report of special analysis on accients of fishing vessels insure. Fishing Vessel nsurance Center. Statistics of fishing vessel insurance. Fisheries Agency of Japan.) <1,000 GT was 42,165 billion. Realizing that the cost of running the fishing business in general is roughly 90% of the sales, an the total output is 41,949 billion, therefore amages costing Y6.6 million, or 0.3% of the above-mentione figure, o not seem to be unrealistic. t is, however, base solely on the available statistical ata. No stuy has yet been mae of the system use in the operation of the insurance, incluing confirming of the accients. Also, no stuy has been mae of the available ship accient reports. invite comments an opinions from those involve in the Japanese fishing vessel insurance system. ACKNOWLEDGMENT n preparing this report, cooperation an assistance have been receive from the following people. woul like to express appreciation to Masataka Seki an Michiko Yamagishi, Tokyo Software Development Company, Lt.; Shigeki Fujita, Division of Fisheries nsurance, Fisheries Agency,

18 809 the Government of Japan; Akira Kito, Division of Fishing Groun Environment Conservation, Fisheries Agency, the Government of Japan; an Michio Usui, Fishing Vessel nsurance Center. REFERENCES Fishing Vessel nsurance Center Report of special analysis on accients of fishing vessels insure. Fishing Vessel nsurance Center. Japan. Fisheries Agency Statistics of fishing vessel insurance. Fisheries Agency of Japan Statistics of fishing vessel insurance. Fisheries Agency of Japan Statistics of fishing vessel insurance. Fisheries Agency of Japan Statistics of fishing vessel insurance. Fisheries Agency of Japan Statistics of fishing vessel insurance. Fisheries Agency of Japan Statistics of fishing vessel insurance. Fisheries Agency of Japan Summarize fishery statistics, Planning Division, Fisheries Agency of Japan. n.. Tables of statistics of fishing vessels. Japan. No. 23, Fisheries Agency of