Tracing illegal oil discharges from vessels using SAR and AIS in Bohai Sea of China

Abstract In China's 14th Five-Year Plan, it is necessary to coordinate the promotion of marine ecological protection and prevent environmental risks such as marine oil spills. The illegal discharge of oily waste from ships is an important source of oil spill pollution in the Bohai Sea, and has become an important factor hindering the purification of the marine environment. Because SAR remote sensing is not restricted by light conditions, it can work at night, in heavy fog, overcast and rainy days, and has become one of the important techniques for monitoring oil spills on the sea. AIS can provide real-time and historical position and track information of ships. The combination of SAR and AIS can provide a great help for maritime regulatory authorities to find the source of oil spill pollution. However, China has not yet established a mature and effective oil spill supervision system based on SAR and AIS. This paper proposes a framework for oil spill detection and accountability using the combination of SAR, AIS and boarding inspection, and takes an example of the monitoring and tracking process of illegal oil discharge from a ship in the Bohai Sea. As far as we know, this is the first time that China has used SAR and AIS to identify ships that illegally discharge oily sewage. This work framework can provide a reference for China's maritime agencies to improve the oil spill supervision system during the 14th Five-Year Plan.