523
1 INTRODUCTION
Aquaculture is an important industry that needs
emergency preparedness to protect employees, fish
welfare and health, the environment, and material
assetsandensurefoodsafety[1].Mostfishfarmsare
situated in coastal areas. In a fish farm, one cage is
allowed to hold up to 200 000
fish [2]. A fish farm
oftenhassixtotencagesthatrequiredailyinspection
on the ring; equipment needs maintenance, and the
fish must be fed and cared for. Fish farmers have
manytasksinademandingenvironmentatsea.
Figure1.Anaquaculturesitewithopennetpens,afeeding,
abarge,andworkboat.Photo:MagnusOshaugPedersen,
SINTEFOceanAS.
Increased Emergency Preparedness in Coastal
Aquaculture
C.Salomonsen,Ø.Selvik,T.E.Berg&T.Thorvaldsen
SINTEFOceanAS,Trondheim,Norway
ABSTRACT: Aquaculture is an industry that has developed rapidly over the past decades. Despite several
hazards in the operations, emergency preparedness is not at the same level as in the rest of the maritime
industry. This paper highlights some possibilities to increase the aquaculture industry’s coastal
emergency
preparedness.Thispaperistheresultoftheinnovationproject“CoastalEmergencyPreparedness”fundedby
the Norwegian Research Council and industry partners. The aquaculture industry must establish its own
emergencypreparedness.Inthispaper,theinnovationofafleetofemergencypreparednessvesselsalongthe
coastline,whichcouldfill
thegapsinemergencypreparedness,ispresented.Thevesselswouldbeofvaried
sizes, with different equipment and response times, and could assist the aquaculture industry during local
incidentsorlarge‐scaleones,suchasalgaebloomsorwinterstorms,thataffectmanysitesatthesametime.
Each production zone
would need its own dedicated fleet due to biosecurity regulations. The emergency
preparednessvesselfleetwouldbe ledbyanon‐scenecommander.Thefleetwoulddealwithoilspills and
tasks such as emergency towing, firefighting, rescue of people, recapturing of fish, silage making, algae
detection,anddivingmissions.
Withsuchavesselfleet,smallandlargeaquaculturecompaniescouldincrease
theiremergencypreparednesswithacommonstrategyandsharedresources.
http://www.transnav.eu
the International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 17
Number 3
September 2023
DOI:10.12716/1001.17.03.03
524
A continued sustainable growth in the seafood
industries is a stated goal for the Norwegian
government, and safe operations require robust
emergency preparedness. Figure 2 shows how the
number of licenses increased in 2006–2021. At the
sametime,thenumberofaquaculturesitesdecreased
with an increase in the average
size of the sites,
requiringmoreemergencypreparedness.
Figure2.Thebluecolumnsshowthenumberoflicensesfor
theproductionof salmon,rainbow trout, andtrout at sea,
andtheredcolumnsshowthenumberofaquaculturesites
in2006–2021[3].
The aquaculture industry is regulated by the
Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries, but the
authorities do not dispose of or manage their own
emergencyresources.Theindustrydependsonother
stakeholders to ensure that it has the resources to
ensureemergencypreparedness.Aquaculture‐related
hazardandaccidentsincludepersonalaccidents,
ship
accidents, fish escapes, algae blooms, acute
environmental emissions, and vessel collisions with
facilities(cargoships,passengerships,leisurevessels,
etc.).Theconsequencesofsuchsituationscanbeloss
of lives, damage to people or the environment,
economiclosses,reducedfishwelfare,orlargelosses
offish.
Data from the
website Kystdatahuset (in
Norwegian), by the Norwegian Coastal
Administration (NCA) [4], show the number of
accidentsintheNorwegianEconomicZonefrom2012
to 2021. These data are presented in Fig. 3. The
accidentsarefire,driftingobject,vesselindrift,vessel
with engine problems or black‐out, shipwreck,
grounding,and
collision.
A harmful algae bloom in Northern Norway in
May 2019, which caused a mass mortality event
involvingeightmillionfarmedfish,isanexampleof
anincidentthatcreatedchallengesintheaquaculture
industry’scapacityforemergencypreparedness[5].In
addition, several accidents with work vessels have
been recorded.
Many serious personal accidents in
aquacultureoccuroutsidefacilitiesandvessels[6].
Figure3.NumberofaccidentsintheNorwegianEconomic
Zone[4].
2 METHODSANDMATERIALS
Interviews and workshops were the key methods
used in this work. Several interviews with fish
farmers, public bodies, and the Norwegian Coastal
Guard (NCG) were conducted. Several workshops
were arranged, and stakeholders representing fish
farmers, well‐boat owners, vessel designers, vessel
builders, companies offering courses and drills,
the
NorwegianSocietyforSeaRescue,theNCA,andlocal
public bodies contributed with their experience and
knowledgeofcoastalemergencypreparedness.Vessel
designwasconductedbyMarinDesign—apartnerin
the project this paper is based on—in collaboration
withtheauthors.
3 RESULTS
3.1 CommercialEmergencyPreparedness
Inthe
interviews,thefishfarmersdescribedhowthey
establishtheirownemergencypreparedness.Tosome
extent, they have in‐house resources and contracts
withwell‐boatowners,silagecompanies,divers,tow
boats,andfishermen(thatcanhelprecaptureescaped
fish).
Aquaculture companies have both formal and
informal cooperation. “If there is an
incident, we
stand up for the neighbor. No written agreement,”
onefishfarmersaid.Assistancefromaneighborfish
farm and other local resources are usually used to
cope with incidents/accidents. A formal cooperation
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canbebasedonjointstrategiesofgoodoperationsin
a production zone, including agreements to borrow
well‐boatsorslaughterhouse/slaughtervessels,ajoint
preparedness agreement for mass mortality,
agreements on de‐lice vessels, shared equipment for
recapturing fish, and a joint fish health forum for a
production zone. Vessels
from other industries can
also be of assistance, such as towing vessels. The
availabilityofsuchvesselswhenanincidentoccursis
unknown,sotheyareunreliable.
The interview respondents expressed that the
capacityoftheemergencypreparednessserviceswas
goodenough for localincidents, but forlarger ones,
such
asalgaebloomorwinterstorms,whichoccurred
onseveralfishfarmsatthesametime,capacitywasa
challenge. For example, diving services, towing,
pumping, silage capacity, and slaughtering couldbe
insufficientif several fish farms were in need at the
sametime.Thisisanexampleofthelevel
ofregional
emergencypreparednessintheaquacultureindustry.
Today, the industry’s regional emergency
preparedness includes lice control and response to
selected diseases for each production zone. The oil
andgasindustry has adedicated fleet of emergency
preparedness vessels standing by in case of an
incident. The aquaculture industry could
learn from
otherindustries,howtheysolvelogisticandresource
challenges regarding emergency preparedness by
cooperatingandsharingcommonresourcesinalarger
area.
Thetrendofplacingnewaquaculturesitesinmore
demanding areas and further from the shore would
increase the need for dedicated emergency
preparedness.Farfromother
fishfarms,itwouldbe
difficult to depend on the resources of a neighbor
farm. The risk of an incident increases with an
increaseinthesizeoftheaquaculturesite,thenumber
of fish it contains, the distance to the shore,
demanding logistics, automatization, and remote
operations[7].
3.2
PublicEmergencyPreparedness
Interviewswiththecountygovernmentshowthatthe
public emergency preparedness has three main
aspects,prioritizedinthefollowingorder:
1. Lifeandhealth
2. Nonreplaceablenaturalresources
3. Industryvalues
This prioritizing means that public emergency
preparednesswillonlycontributetotheaquaculture
industry if they have
time and resources available.
Therefore, the aquaculture industry must have their
ownemergencypreparednessresources.
The NCA, with seven vessels, is responsible for
coordinating state, municipal, and private
preparednessinthenationalpreparednesssystem[8].
The NCA’s pollution control authority includes the
responsibility and authority to make decisions,
supervise,and
implementmeasures.
TheNCG,whichsolvestasksforthepolice,among
others, and the NCA assist the Joint Rescue
Coordination Centre (JRCC) and have an important
role in environmental preparedness along the coast
and at sea. NCG resources include 12 vessels,six of
which are allocated to the Norwegian Emergency
Towing
Service (NETS) [9]. The NCG is often
appointed as on‐scene coordinator by JRCC during
search and rescue operations as well as oil spill
collection. They are also well‐equipped for towing
othervessels.TheCoastGuard’svesselsbelongtothe
outer or inner coast guard, and some have the
capacity for helicopters. All vessels have their home
base, and operations are managed from Sortland,
Northern Norway. Most relevant for emergency
preparedness in coastal waters is the Nornen class
thatoperatesincoastalwatersindifferentzonesand
consistsoffivevessels[10].
The Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue is a
voluntary,humanitarianmemberorganization,whose
taskistomakeitsafetotravelbysea.Thema intasks
are search and rescue missions, as well as diving
missionsforthefishingfleet.Thereare26vesselswith
permanentcrews,and60diverssharetwoshifts[11].
Asapartof
theriskmitigationactionstoprevent
vesselsfromdriftingashore,theNCAestablishedthe
NETS, as described by Berg and Selvik [12]. As of
today,theNCGoperatesallvesselsintheNETS.The
vesseltrafficcenterinVardø,NORVTS,monitorsall
trafficalongthecoast(andintheNorwegian
EEZ).It
identifies cases with unusual motion patterns to
pinpoint possible uncontrolled drifting vessels.
Suspicious cases are reported to the operational
branch of the NETS and the NCA’s emergency
responseteam.CommercialtugsorNCGvesselswill
respondtopreventapossiblegroundingorcollision
withoceanstructures.
3.3 Examples
WheretheNETSIsUsed
TherehavebeenincidentsalongtheNorwegiancoast
where the NETS has been crucial and prevented a
majordisaster.
Onerecentexamplewasthe190mbulkcarrierMV
Melinda,whichlostcontroloftherudderandstarted
todrifttowardthecoastlineinVesterålen(see
Fig.4).
Itwasapproximately10nmoffAndenesinroughsea
(waveheightof5m)withawindspeedof17m/sand
a deteriorating weather. The carrier drifted with a
speedof4knotstowardtheshore.ThemasterofMV
Melinda refused support from the ETS
vessel KV
Harstad several times, stating they had control and
would fix the failure themselves soon. NOR VTS
surveyed the situation using their tool for ship drift
prediction, which estimated that the bulk carrier
wouldgroundwithinfourtofive hours. Themaster
ontheCoastGuardvesselthentoldthe
masteronMV
Melindathattheypreparedforanemergencytowing
operation.Themasteracceptedthesituation,andon
the second attempt, a towing connectionwas set up
(thefirsttimethelinebrokeduetothehighwaves).
The emergency towing operation prevented
grounding, the spill of fuel from
the bulk carrier
(having800tonsofheavyoiland250tonsofdiesel),
andapossiblecrewrescueoperation.
In October 2022, a general cargo vessel had an
engine breakdown and started to drift toward the
shore in the second largest aquaculture production
zoneinNorway(seeFig.5).The
ETSvesselKVBison
wasonly45minutesawayandsetcourseatthebest
526
speed toward the disabled vessel. The transit time
wasusedtoprepareforthetaskaheadwithatoolbox
talkandbyriggingtheemergencytowline.Overall,
the weather was good, but a southerly wind caused
RaneExpresstodrifttothenorthtowardtheshoreat
approximately 1.5
knots. Due to the drifting speed
and wind condition, three attempts were needed to
successfully secure a tow line. At this point, the
disabledvesselhadaround0.3nmtotheshoreor10–
12 minutes before the vessel had been grounded.
During this, another emergency resource was
available—a rescue vessel
from the Norwegian
SocietyforSeaRescue,whichhasanestimatedtimeof
arrival of 10–15 minutes later than KV Bison. This
rescuevesselwascalledoff.TheETSvesselKVBison
wascloseenoughtoassist.Normally,thiswouldnot
bethecase.
Figure4. Towing of MV Melinda (in sheltered waters).
Photo:BjørnAmundsen,NorwegianCoastGuard.
Figure5. A map indicating where the general cargo vessel
gotanenginebreakdown.Theredcirclesshowaquaculture
surfaces. The map (without the red callout and arrow) is
found using the Norwegian Coastal Administration’s
serviceKystinfo.no.
3.4 EmergencyPreparednessVesselfortheAquaculture
Industry
Figure6.Threeemergencypreparednessvesselconceptsfor
coastal emergency preparedness of 15, 26, and 40 meters,
respectively.ThevesseldesignwasmadebyMarinDesign.
The aquaculture industry therefore relies on its
own resources: service vessels, well‐boats, towboats,
silageboats,feedboats,veterinarians,andfishermen
on contract to assist during a fish escape. These
emergency preparedness stakeholders have their
tasksto fulfill, but when an incident happens, some
gapsintheemergencypreparednessshow:
An on‐scene commander to take the lead in an
emergency
Towingcapacity
Oilprotection(equipmentandexpertise)
Firefighting(equipmentandexpertise)
Recapture of escaped fish (equipment and
expertise)
Silageequipment(grinderandstoragecapacity)
Divingequipmentandcapacity
Algaesensors
Equipment
torescuepeoplefromthesea
An emergency preparedness vessel can address
thesegapsifithastherightequipmentandcompetent
staff.
Threeaquacultureemergencyvesseldesignshave
beenproposed,asshowninFig.6.Thetwosmallest
designs are 15 and 26 meters, respectively, and are
modified service vessels.
With additional on‐board
equipment, they can be used for emergency
preparednesssituations.Theywillbeusedasnormal
service vessels under normal working conditions.
Theyarealsosuitableasemergencyvesselstoassistin
anemergencysituationwithinagiventimespan.The
vessel concept of 40 meters is a
purpose‐built
emergency vessel. This vessel will have more
emergency equipment on board, will be equipped
withalargerworkboat/MOBboat(manoverboard),
andcanwithstandbadweather.Thisvesselwillalso
besuitableforserviceassignmentsintheaquaculture
industry,suchasanchorhandlingandtowing.
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Figure7.Amapofthe13aquacultureproductionzonesin
Norway[13].
Onepossibleorganizationoftheemergencyvessel
response is for the combi vessels to enter normal
serviceoperations,butwithapresencecontractanda
givenresponsetime.Thismeansthatthevesselmust
beabletostop thework itis doingand bereadyto
respondwithinthetimespan.
Inthisway,emergency
preparedness could be improved without excessive
costs.
A vessel purely for emergencies can maintain
emergency readiness in a defined area, such as a
production zone. Because of biosecurity restrictions,
crossingaproductionzoneborder(seeFig.7)might
be time‐consuming and economically costly. Also,
depending
on the incident, an emergency
preparednessvesselsituatedinadifferentproduction
zone than the one the incident occurs in might not
make it in time to assist during the emergency
response [14]. Aquaculture companies must have
large emergency preparedness vessels as a common
resource in a production zone at the
same time as
having smaller combination service and emergency
preparednessvesselsthatcanquicklyassist.
1. EmergencyPreparednessVesselEquipment:
Cranes:Thesize ofthecraneswillbeadapted
to the size of the emergency preparedness
vessel.Largevesselswillhavetwocraneswith
differentcapabilities.
Oil spill
equipment: The equipment allows oil
collectionwithanoiltrawlandencirclingofthe
casualty or contaminated object with a
traditional bilge. For small emergency
preparedness vessels, tanks for collection on
boardtakeupalotofspace,anditmaymake
sensetouseatemporarystorageinoilbarges.
For large emergency preparedness vessels, oil
canbestoredintanksonboardaswell.
Towingequipment:Theequipmentwillhavea
ready‐rigged light towline configuration
available.Thetowingarrangementwillconsist
ofastrongandeasilyhandledfiberrope,craw
foot, and equipment to transfer the towline
from
the preparedness vessel to the disabled
vessel.
Equipment for recapturing fish: Emergency
vessels will have nets and other equipment
suitedforrecapturingescapedfish.
Operations center: For large emergency
preparednessvessels,thebridgecanbesplitin
two, where a separation between navigators
andtheoperationscentercanbe
created.Thisis
very effectivefor leading actions at sea where
thereisashortdistancebetweenthebridgeand
the operations center. For small emergency
preparednessvessels,theoperationcenterwill
beinacornerofthebridge.
Infrared camera: A forward‐looking infrared
(FLIR) camera is very
useful. The camera has
the option to follow objects automatically,
either via AIS (Automatic Identification
System)orbyselectinganareatobefollowed.
AnIRcameraisveryusefulinoildetection.
Lightboat:HavinganMOBboatisimportantin
emergencypreparedness.Theplacingandsize
ofthe
MOBboatwillvarywiththesizeofthe
emergencypreparednessvessel.
Silage capacity: For small emergency
preparednessvessels,thesilagewillbehandled
by modular units, for example, placed in
containers. This gives good flexibility. Only
large emergency preparedness vessels could
separatetanksonboardforstoringsilage.
Firefightingequipment:Waterandfoamcanon
willbeusedinfirefightingscenarios.
2. Competence Requirements: An important part of
an emergency preparedness vessel for use in the
aquacultureindustryisthecompetenceofthecrew
on board. Experience, practical skills, and
equipment‐specific competence will be important
to solve emergency
response tasks in the best
possibleway.Itislikelythatthevesselwillalsobe
used in the day‐to‐day operation of aquaculture
facilities, and the crew’s basic competence is
essentialinanemergencysetting.
Typically,crewmembersonservicevesselsinthe
aquacultureindustryhavetakenthe
STCW‐95course.
Other courses are on crane, hot works, fish health,
chemistry,andROV(RemotelyOperatedVehicle).In
addition, the crew would need knowledge, practice,
andexperienceontopoftheircompetenceasacrew
ona service boat. Thiscompetence can be gained in
different ways, for example, through
certified
training,documentedtraining,andexperiencegained
fromconductingoperations,training,exercises,etc.
The first key competence is emergency
preparednessmanagement.Thisisaverycrucialskill
because the crew will face many different scenarios,
bothknownandunknown,andwilltaketheleadin
solvingthetaskaheadof
them.Qualifiedandtrained
personnel on an emergency preparedness vessel
should act as an on‐scene commander and lead the
handlingoftheincident.Thiscoursecouldbeheldby
atrainingfacility.
Another important competence is handling an
MOB boat. To lower an MOB boat in most weather
conditions, use
it safely, and haul it will require
coursesanddrills.
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Fish escape is an incident in the aquaculture
industrythatvariesfromoneyeartoanother.In2010–
2018, an average of 219 000 fish escaped each year.
The incident peaked in 2011, when 327 000 fish
escaped;theoppositewasin2017,whenonly20000
fishescaped.The
fishfarmersarerequiredbylawto
attempt to recapture escaped fish [15]. Recapturing
escapedfishisimportant,andthecrewonboardmust
knowhowtohandlenetsandquicklyplacethemin
therightpositionintheseaincollaborationwiththe
fishfarmers.
Incaseofamass
mortalityoffish,itisimportant
toremovethefishfromthecagessothecageswillnot
collapse under the weight of the fish. Here, it is
important to learn how to use lift‐up systems and
pumpswithoutdamagingthenets.Damagetothenet
increases the
risk of fish escape. After pumping up
dead fish, one must know how to handle and store
silage.Anotherkeycompetenceishowtostabilizethe
cageandkeepitfloatinguntilenoughdeadfishhave
been removed and the risk of collapse has been
eliminated.
Oilspillisathreat
tothefish.Thecrewonboard
musthaveknowledgeofhowtouseoillensesandoil
bargessotheycanusethisequipmentaroundanaqua
culture site. It is also important to have knowledge
about different types of oil and how they can affect
thefishin
thecages.
Emergency towing of other vessels, cages, or
barges will be an important task for the crew on
emergency preparedness vessels. This task requires
equipmentandcompetencetodosafely.
Firefighting will mainly be conducted from a
distanceusingwaterorfoamcanons.Thecrewmust
be drilled in how
to use the equipment. They also
havetogainknowledgeaboutdifferenttypesoffires,
suchasbatteryfireandfireonaconventionalboat.
Algae knowledge is important, especially during
algaeblooms.Ifthecrewcantakewatersamplesand
indicate which algae it is, this would ease the
handling of an algae bloom. Qualified personnel
wouldstill be needed toexamine thewater samples
and give exact answers, but this process takes time.
For the aquaculture industry, a quick, temporary
resultisimportant.
3.5 TheContributionofanEmergencyPreparedness
Vessel
TherehavebeenincidentsalongtheNorwegiancoast
whereanemergencypreparednessvesselcouldhave
preventedamajordisaster.
1. AFreightVesselWasDrifting:Afreightvesselwas
driftingonthesecondlargestaquacultureareain
Norway,asdescribedinSectionIII‐C.Thisvessel
was a threat in several ways. In this situation, a
smalleremergency
preparednessvesselcoulduse
a towing line to hold the freight vessel in place,
andalargeremergencypreparednessvesselcould
tow the ship to harbor. If the ship already
damageda fishfarm site, then the destruction of
thestructureswithamassescapeoffishwouldbe
a likely
scenario. The emergency preparedness
vesselcouldhavethreepossibletasks:
Assist with cranes to lift the structures to
prevent(more)escapedfish.
Assistwiththerecaptureofescapedfish.
Towthefreight vesselawayfrom thesiteand
preventothersitesfrombeinghitorthefreight
vesselfromhittingtheshore.
Anoilspillisanotherthreatfromthevessel.Ifthis
occurs, the emergency preparedness vessel will
assistthefishfarmsiteswithoillensestoprotect
theirfish.Thelastthreattomentionhereisfireina
bargeoraboathitbya
freightvessel.Inthiscase,
theemergencypreparednessvesselcanassistwith
firefightingorpersonnelrescue.Theflowdiagram
ofthisprocessisshowninFig.8.
Figure8.Afreightvesselisdrifting,andthisscenarioshows
where an emergency preparedness vessel can assist. Red
boxesindicatedangeroussituations,andblueboxesshowa
solutiontothepreviousdanger.
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2. AlgaeBloom:Atoxicalgaebloomhitalargeareain
Northern Norway in 2019 (see Fig. 9). Several
companies were affected, and 13 500 tons of fish
died [5]. At first, the toxic algae bloom was
detected near fish farming facilities, and the
company considered actions to move
fish from
several cages/locations. When they realized the
potential in this situation, other companies were
warnedsotheyhadtimetoactandsavetheirfish.
Not all companies could move fish, and the
moving also entails a great strain on the fish. A
mass fish mortality occurred after some
time,
mainlybecauseoftoxicalgaebutalsoduetofish
handling.Thecapacitytopumpupandmovealot
of fish as well as the large quantities of fish that
should be moved were challenging. Given the
circumstances, there were exemptions on moving
cages with fish inside, which is
normally
forbidden. In this incident, the fish farming
companies relied on the same emergency
preparednessresources,buttheirpumping,silage,
andtowingcapabilitieswereinadequate.Afleetof
emergencypreparednessvesselscouldbeusefulin
thesetasks(seeFig.10)andcouldhelpaddressthe
consequences of fish handling, such
as causing
holesinnets,requiringrepairandtherecaptureof
escapedfish.
Figure9.Theareahitbyatoxicalgaebloomin2019wasin
Northern Norway. The red circles show aquaculture sites.
Theorangearrowshowswherethealgaebloomstarted,and
the green arrow shows where it ended. The area and
aquaculture sites affected were determined by the sea
current.
Figure10. Toxic algae bloom;this scenario shows where a
fleet of emergency preparedness vessels can assist. Red
boxes showdangeroussituations, and blue boxes showsa
solutiontothepreviousdanger.
3. MassDeathofFish:Anotherscenarioismassdeath
in cages during and after a mechanical de‐lice
operation (see Fig. 11). The de‐licing was carried
out on one of the company’s de‐licing barges. A
totalof100 000 fishdiedbecauseof thede‐licing
process.A
tearwasdiscoveredinthenettingofthe
cage, and a repair net must be deployed. 10 000
fisharebelievedtohaveescaped.Inthiscase,the
emergency preparedness vessel could assist the
fishfarmers(Fig.11)bypumpingtoremovedead
fish,placingnetsintheseafor
fishrecapture,and
repairing the damaged net. The on‐scene
commander (on board the emergency
preparedness vessel) must prioritize these tasks
while in dialog with the fish farmers and other
relevantstakeholders.
530
Figure11. Mass death in a cage and fish escape; this
scenario shows where an emergency preparedness vessel
canassist. Redboxesshowdangerous situations, andblue
boxesshowasolutiontothepreviousdanger.
4. A Well‐Boat on the Ground: The fourth case
discusses how a dedicated emergency vessel for
the aquaculture industry could have been used
when a well‐boat run aground with ill fish on
board. Also, in this case, the location of the
incidentwas the second largest fish farming area
inNorway.Stepstominimizetheconsequencesof
theincidentareshowninFig.12.Intheactualcase,
thewell‐boatownersearchedforvesselsthatcould
help within their own shipping company and
externalvesselsaswell.Thevesselstheyhadthat
could provide assistance were occupied with
anothertask,anditwouldtaketoomuchtimeto
release them. Luckily, a towing vessel was close
enough to be of assistance, and the Norwegian
SocietyforSeaRescuehadavesselthatcouldhold
a towing line but not the engine power to tow
away.Thewell‐boatneeded
atowinglinefromthe
sternandbowfortheboattocomeofftheground
safely.Theystartedtoemptyballastwater,butthe
tide reduced the time span available. Then, the
vesselfromtheNorwegianSocietyforSeaRescue
receivedanemergencycall.Their primarytaskis
to
save life at sea, not hold vessels in place. An
emergency preparedness vessel could, in this
incident, have replaced the vessel from the
Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue and taken the
lead. An on‐scene commander could lead the
operationfromtheemergencypreparednessvessel
and be in charge. The towing
boat would assist,
andnotbethemaintowingcapacity.Ifemptying
the ballast water was not enough, the emergency
preparedness vessel could pump water from the
fishtanksintoitsowntanksandsecurenofurther
spreadofthediseasefromtheillfish.Ifthewell‐
boat started
to leak oil, the emergency
preparednessvesselcouldplacelensesaroundthe
well‐boatandstartthecollectionofoilspill.

Figure12. A well‐boat with ill fish run aground; this
scenario shows where an emergency preparedness vessel
canassist. Redboxesshowdangerous situations, andblue
boxesshowasolutiontothepreviousdanger.
4 CONCLUSION
ThefishfarmsintheNorwegianaquacultureindustry
are mainly situated along the coastline,but utilizing
moreexposedandoffshoreareasarealsoapartofthe
industry’s development. It is crucial that the
emergency preparedness follows the growth and
developmentoftheaquacultureindustry.Tobebetter
prepared,
a fleet of emergency preparedness vessels
in each production zone, as a common resource for
everyaquaculturesite,couldincreasetheemergency
readiness level and give every company, small or
large,theopportunitytosecuretheiremployees,their
industry values, and the environment they are
situatedin.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Thispaperpresentsresultsfromresearchprojectno.309305
funded by the Research Council of Norway, the Hav
(Ocean) Program. The project was conducted by SINTEF,
andwewouldliketothankourindustrypartnersFrøyAS,
Rørvik Maritime Safety Training Centre AS, Moen Marin
AS, and Marin Design AS, which
have contributed their
professional expertise to address the challenges and
possibilitiesconcerningtheaquacultureindustry.Wewould
alsoliketothanktheNCG,theNCA,andthelocalcounty
and municipal representatives for participating in the
workshopsandinterviews.
531
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