Centre de Recherche en Gestion, Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, France; Aix Marseille Univ., Université de Toulon, CNRS, IRD, MIO UM 110, Marseille, France.
Liverpool Logistics, Offshore and Marine Research Institute (LOOM) and School of Engineering, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3AF, United Kingdom.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jun 25;827:154236. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154236. Epub 2022 Mar 1.
Collisions between ships and whales can pose a significant threat to the survival of some whale populations. The lack of robust and holistic assessments of the consequences of mitigation solutions often leads to poor compliance from the shipping industry. To overcome this, several papers support a regulatory approach to the management of whale-ship collisions through the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN agency responsible for maritime affairs. According to the IMO risk assessment approach, in order to compare the costs of implementing mitigation solutions and their benefits, there is a need for a well-defined risk evaluation criterion. To define such a criterion for whales, we have used an ecological-economic framework based on existence values and conservation objectives. As an illustration, we have applied our framework to the Mediterranean fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) population and determined the cost of averting a whale fatality as a proxy for the societal benefits. More precisely, we have estimated the 'Cost of averting a Mediterranean fin whale fatality' of 562,462 (in 2017 US dollars); this corresponds to 637,790 USD when converted to 2021 US dollars. The societal benefits of solutions that reduce the risk to whales could therefore be weighed against the costs of shipping companies to implement such measures. This could lead to assessments that are more transparent and the introduction of mandatory measures to reduce ship strikes.
船舶与鲸鱼碰撞会对一些鲸鱼种群的生存构成重大威胁。由于缺乏对缓解措施后果的稳健和全面评估，航运业往往难以完全遵守相关规定。为了解决这个问题，有几篇论文支持通过国际海事组织（IMO）对船舶与鲸鱼碰撞进行管理，IMO 是负责海事事务的联合国机构。根据 IMO 的风险评估方法，为了比较实施缓解措施的成本和效益，需要有明确的风险评估标准。为了为鲸鱼定义这样的标准，我们使用了基于存在价值和保护目标的生态经济框架。作为说明，我们将该框架应用于地中海鳍鲸（Balaenoptera physalus）种群，并确定了避免鲸鱼死亡的成本，以此作为社会效益的替代指标。更具体地说，我们估计了“避免地中海鳍鲸死亡的成本”为 562,462 美元（按 2017 年美元计算）；当转换为 2021 年美元时，这一数字为 637,790 美元。因此，可以权衡减少鲸鱼风险的措施给航运公司带来的成本与这些措施给社会带来的效益。这可能导致评估更加透明，并出台减少船舶撞击的强制性措施。
