Journal
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
Volume 740, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140123
Keywords
Maritime traffic; Marine environment; Spatio-temporal analysis; Adriatic Sea; SARS-CoV-2; Italy
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) caused an unprecedented implementation of lockdown measures across world's nations. Veneto Region, located in North-Eastern Adriatic Sea was one of the first maritime regions in Italy and Europe subjected to progressive lockdown restrictions. We systematically analyse the effects of national lockdown policies on maritime settings of the region using Automated Identification System (AIS) data from fishing vessels, passenger ships, tanker and cargo vessels collected through the Aqua Alta Oceanographic Tower (AAOT). We derive consequences on vessel activities during the March-April 2020 lockdown, by using a data-driven, comparative spatio-temporal analysis of vessel trajectories. Results show that compared to the same period of 2017, vessel activity were reduced by 69% during the lockdown, fishing activities reduced by 84% and passenger traffic by 78%. We register a restart of fishing activity in the third week of April 2020. We suggest that the presented conceptual and spatial assessment protocol can guide future research on environmental and socioeconomic effects of COVID-19 on marine realms and contribute to further interdisciplinary research with other marine scientific fields. (C) 2020 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available