A Study on Traffic Safety Assessments for Fishing Vessels Near the Southwest Sea Offshore Wind Farm

The purpose of this study was to analyze traffic safety assessments for fishing vessels near the southwest offshore wind farm. This study applied a collision model for safety assessment. It also involved a spatiotemporal analysis of vessels engaged in fishing to identify fishing hotspots around the offshore wind farm. This study used data from fishing vessel location transmission devices gathered over 1 year in 2014. As a result, in September, when the average number of vessels engaged in fishing is high, 62 ships were operating in fishing section 184-6 and 55 ships in section 184-6. In addition, in fishing sections 184-8 and 192-2, where an offshore wind farm was located, there were 55 and 38 ships operating, respectively. As the recovery period for a seaway near wind farm turbines is 55 years, it was determined that safety measures are required in order to reduce collision frequency while allowing fishing vessels to navigate through offshore wind farms. Meanwhile, the return period of Seaway B between the groups of generators considered was 184 years. A safety zone for offshore wind farms should be installed covering a distance of at least 0.3 NM from the boundary of turbines. Then, the collision return period was derived to be close to 100 years. Through this traffic safety assessment, it has been concluded that such measures would help prevent marine accidents.