Environmental Marine Traffic Study,Oman

What is the Marine Environment?

The marine environment refers to the oceans, seas, and coastal areas, including the ecosystems and organisms living within them, as well as the physical and chemical conditions that sustain them.

What is Marine Environmental Protection?

Marine environmental protection involves efforts to conserve and manage marine ecosystems, preventing pollution, overfishing, and habitat destruction to ensure the health and sustainability of the oceans and marine life.

One of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 14) is "Life Below Water," which emphasizes the importance of conserving and sustainably using oceans, seas, and marine resources. This includes protecting marine biodiversity—an essential component for maintaining the health of sensitive marine flora and fauna, both nationally and internationally.

Why Conduct a Marine Traffic Study?

A marine traffic study, including its impact on biodiversity, is conducted to ensure that environmental impacts are minimized as much as possible throughout all phases of a project. This process ensures that all potential environmental impacts are identified, managed, and controlled according to regulatory and industry standards.

Objective

• Avoid and mitigate negative impacts on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services;
• Work with other stakeholders to maintain ecosystems;
• Respect the basic concept of protected areas;
  • The study intends to:
    • Assess and quantify the marine traffic density and depict it on a field map.
    • Assess the risk from marine traffic on marine megafauna (collision accidents).
    • Assess the probability of a trike.
    • Environmental impacts of maritime transport.
    • Vessel speed restrictions.
    • Ship strike mitigation.
    • Assess marine traffic requirements in the context of IMO.

Methodology

• Marine Traffic Environment Evaluation: Assess existing and future planned/proposed marine traffic.
• Impact Assessment: Evaluate how project activities (construction, operation) will affect marine traffic and biodiversity.
• Risk Level Determination: Identify risk levels for various project stages (e.g., collision, grounding, oil pollution, mechanical failure).
• Mitigation Recommendations: Propose measures to reduce risks to acceptable levels, such as controlling vessel speeds and emergency spill response plans.

The marine traffic assessment will gather existing marine traffic data and marine mammal passage information (using GIS and seasonal data) from secondary sources, such as Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), regional marine habitat studies, and previous research conducted in the project area. As part of the study, the following key aspects will be elaborated on key environmental considerations for project development

Key Environmental Considerations for Project Development

• Compliance with Environmental Requirements: Ensuring that all environmental regulations are adhered to when developing the project.
• Permits and Authorization: Identifying and securing all necessary environmental permits and following the required authorization processes.
• Energy and Natural Resource Consumption: Assessing the project's impact on energy use and natural resource consumption.
• Discharges to Air and Water: Evaluating the environmental impact of both continuous and intermittent discharges into the air and water.
• Biodiversity and Habitat Interactions: Addressing potential impacts on biodiversity, habitat interactions, and any disturbances to the ecosystem.
• Waste Management and Disposal: Implementing a responsible waste management and disposal plan.
• Environmental Emergency Management: Developing a plan to manage environmental emergencies, such as spills into water or air.
• Impact of Plant/Project Malfunctions: Assessing the potential environmental impact of any plant or project malfunction.

The Marine Traffic Impact Assessment Study shall be carried out concerning the Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) methodology adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as a structured approach to the assessment of marine risks, and the effectiveness of control mechanisms.