Emissions estimation of offshore fishing vessel: Evidence from real-time voyage data

The reliance of fishing vessels on fossil fuels has significantly harmed the environment due to greenhouse gases and other pollutants. However, it has been difficult to track these emissions due to limited data, vessel size, and a lack of understanding of the issue. While a few studies have estimated emissions from fishing vessels. Nevertheless, the factory freezer trawlers (FFTs), which are large deep-sea fishing vessels equipped with onboard facilities for catching, freezing, and processing fish at sea, have yet to be thoroughly examined. To address this gap, this study has investigated the emissions of CO₂, CO, CH₄, NOx, SOx, and PM during a 21-day voyage of a FFT. Real-time voyage data are used to illustrate the carbon footprint of the fishing vessel under different scenarios. By utilizing both top-down and bottom-up methods, the study has estimated emissions inventories and found strong agreement with previous research. The study concludes that 213.20 tons of emissions were found using the top-down approach, while 274.89 tons were found using the bottom-up approach. These findings can help fishing vessel operators and policymakers in processing voyage data to estimate emissions and develop effective emission reduction measures.