The Collision Avoidance System Provides Protection for Fishing Boats

By Gong Jinjiao & Tang Hui

Along with the increase of marine transportation and fishing vessels, collision accidents have also increased. To protect fishermen’s life and property safety, Zhoushan Municipal Oceanic and Fishery Bureau has established a special research group,and developed the collision avoidance system (AIS-B system) suitable for fishing boats together with Tianjin 712 Broadcast Communication Co., Ltd.

The system is mainly composed of three parts, i.e. the terminal equipment for fishing boat, the base station and the shore monitoring platform. The terminal equipment for fishing boat can continuously transmit the position,direction and other information to AIS-A equipment and the base station for merchant ships; the base station is used to receive dynamic and static information of AIS-A and AIS-B ships, and display on the electronic chart by a dedicated line transferring to the shore monitoring platform for data processing; the shore monitoring platform can randomly process all types of transmission information,relevant information can be obtained through the input of management requirements according to fishery production safety management target.

The collision avoidance system for fishing boat is based on existing AIS-A system of maritime sector, its function has been developed and adjusted taking into account the characteristics of fishery production, focusing on the actual condition of fishery security. The system can achieve the following functions.

The first is accident prevention: the terminal of fishing boat can automatically send relevant information to effective shore station and merchant ships; publish initiatively dynamic information of fishing boats, making merchant ship with AIS-A system know the existence and action of the target and avoid collision; exchange relevant information and data with shore based facilities.The second is safety alarm, in case of merchant ships approaching, reminding the captain of the fishing boat to keep watching and pay more attention to vessels sailing on both directions and take necessary measures to avoid collision; when accidents occur and the safety of ship and life are endangered, it can timely send SOS distress information, departments in charge and ships nearby can immediately organize rescue operation; at the same time, it also has GPS navigation function, which can provide ship"s real-time position and dynamic information. The third is responsibility tracing function: within the base station and the control area of the system, it can automatically record the process of collision, and playback by using the monitor platform, so as to determine the responsibility and provide reliable evidence for pursuing escaped ships.

Since the AIS-B system for fishing boat was put into use, the efficiency and quality of fishery production safety management have been greatly enhanced. It not only reduces the collision accidents of fishing vessels,but also provides good conditions for improving water transportation safety. On this basis, the competent authorities at all levels should enhance their emphasis on the application of the AIS-B system, and speed up the AIS-B equipment update for fishing boats to ensure the full play of the function of the AIS-B system. This is helpful for reducing the probability of collision of fishing vessels,organizing in a scientific way the fishery production,improving safety supervision and the efficiency of fishery administration and law enforcement.