How can we improve surveillance of pollution at sea? What novel techniques and tools are being developed? How can this be fairly and legally enforced?

Background

The decarbonisation of the UK maritime industry shall require the use of novel technologies and chemicals that may pose a risk to the lives of seafarers and the health of marine ecosystems. As regulators, we have a responsibility to ensure that the risk to the environment and human life is minimised.

Next steps

You can email the MCA ARI Team at [email protected]

Related UKRI funded projects


  • Smart Buoy

    The collaboration between Iknaia, University of Hertfordshire (UH) and OSIL (Ocean Scientific International Limited) will provide a low cost, highly accurate, real-time digital overview of marine water quality. This inno...

    Funded by: ISCF

    Lead research organisation: IKNAIA LIMITED

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on developing a smart buoy for real-time monitoring of marine water quality, including pollution sources, which directly addresses the question of improving surveillance of pollution at sea.

  • Marine Munition in Europe - Solutions with economic and ecological profits for efficient remediation

    The MMinE-SwEEPER project will advance knowledge, capability and capacity in Europe for dealing with marine munition in the non military aspect of UXO-clearance. 21 partners from 7 EU and 2 associated countries bring exp...

    Funded by: Horizon Europe Guarantee

    Lead research organisation: CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on advancing technologies for marine munition detection, environmental monitoring of chemical contaminants, and legal responsibilities.

  • Contaminants of emerging concern: An integrated approach for assessing impacts on the marine environment. Acronym: CONTRAST

    CONTRAST will develop an integrated assessment and effect-based monitoring framework (IAF) to measure the impacts of CECs on the marine environment to provide a measure of Good Environmental Status for application in EU ...

    Funded by: Horizon Europe Guarantee

    Lead research organisation: SHIRE CREATIVE LIMITED

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project aims to develop an integrated assessment framework to measure the impacts of contaminants on the marine environment, providing insights into novel techniques for monitoring pollution at sea.

  • Contaminants of emerging concern: An integrated approach for assessing impacts on the marine environment

    CONTRAST will develop an integrated assessment and effect-based monitoring framework (IAF) to measure the impacts of CECs on the marine environment to provide a measure of Good Environmental Status for application in EU ...

    Funded by: Horizon Europe Guarantee

    Lead research organisation: CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENT FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE SCIENCE (CEFAS)

  • AI Marine Monitoring for Clean Energy (AIMM for Clean Energy)

    Ocean Science Consulting (OSC) is a Scottish marine consultancy that has provided environmental monitoring services to the offshore industry for nearly two decades. Our clients include the offshore energy (oil and gas, r...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: OCEAN SCIENCE CONSULTING LTD

  • Implementing smart autonomous instrumentation

    Smart autonomous marine platforms are vehicles which function without a crew, collecting critical data about the health and properties of the ocean. These platforms come in many shapes and sizes; some stay on the surface...

    Funded by: NERC

    Lead research organisation: University of East Anglia

  • Kamakiri

    The health of our oceans and the critical, life sustaining functions they provide are under threat from climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. Whilst our ocean observation capability has increased dramatically ...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: TOPE OCEAN LTD

  • SurfCam - Sensor triggered remote imaging system for marine monitoring

    * Vision Low-trophic marine aquaculture and offshore renewables hold great potential as an emerging scalable method of producing sustainable food and generate low-carbon energy. However there is yet to be an accurate an...

    Funded by: ISCF

    Lead research organisation: PLANT ECOLOGY BEYOND LAND (PEBL) CIC

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project develops a remote monitoring system for marine structures, which could be adapted for pollution surveillance at sea.

  • Smart Ports, Clean Waters: USV-based water quality monitoring

    Our consortium, led by MSeis and with expert support from technical partners HydroSurv and Chelsea Technologies is spearheading a groundbreaking initiative that is set to deploy clean marine robotics technology to delive...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: MSEIS LIMITED

  • Sustained autonomous environmental monitoring of offshore oil fields

    NERC and NOC are at the forefront of the development of innovative methods to improve observations in the oceans using robotic systems such as Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. These robots have allowed scientists to gain ...

    Funded by: NERC

    Lead research organisation: NOC (Up to 31.10.2019)