TY - JOUR
AU - Loveridge, Alexandra
AU - Elvidge, Christopher D.
AU - Kroodsma, David A.
AU - White, Timothy D.
AU - Evans, Karen
AU - Kato, Akiko
AU - Ropert-Coudert, Yan
AU - Sommerfeld, Julia
AU - Takahashi, Akinori
AU - Patchett, Robert
AU - Robira, Benjamin
AU - Rutz, Christian
AU - Sims, David W.
PY - 2023
DA - November
TI - Context-dependent changes in maritime traffic activity during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic
JO - Global Environmental Change
VL - 84
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102773
AB - Rapid implementation of human mobility restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically reduced maritime activity in early 2020. But where and when activity rebounded, or remained low, during the full extent of 2020 restrictions remains unclear. Using global high-resolution datasets, we reveal a surprising degree of complexity in maritime activity patterns during 2020, yielding a more nuanced picture of how restrictions affected activity. Overall, shipping activity in Exclusive Economic Zones decreased (1.35 %), as expected, however high-seas activity increased (0.28 %). While these annual changes appear modest, there were striking spatially and temporally asynchronous variations in different vessel types’ activity in the second half of 2020, ranging from an &gt; 80 % sustained reduction in passenger vessel activity to a 150 % increase in fishing activity. Results suggest systems-level responses were highly context-dependent, pinpointing areas that experienced significant reductions and spikes in activity, and providing hitherto missing details of COVID-19 impacts on economic and environmental sustainability.
PB - Elsevier
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10023/28797
KW - Coronavirus (COVID-19)
ER