İstanbul Boğazı Gemi Trafiğinde Balıkçı Teknelerinin Seyir Emniyetine Etkileri

Abstract

Türkiye coğrafi konumu ile Asya ve Avrupa kıtaları arasında stratejik bir öneme sahiptir. Bu iki kıtayı birbirinden ayıran iki önemli boğazdan biri olan İstanbul Boğazı’nda; seyir emniyeti açısından doğal yapısından kaynaklı sahip olduğu zorlukları bir yana gemi sayıları ve kapasitelerindeki artış ile bazı düzenlemeler yapılmasına ve önlemler alınmasına rağmen kaza riski günden güne artmaktadır. Türkiye ekonomisinin kalbi sayılan ve resmi verilere göre yaklaşık 15 milyon insanın yaşadığı bir metropol olan İstanbul, stratejik konumu, sahip olduğu doğal güzellikleri, tarihi ve kültürel değerleri ile dünyadaki sayılı şehirlerdendir. Önemi tartışılmaz olan bu şehir, İstanbul Boğazı’ndan geçen gemiler yüzünden büyük tehlikelerle karşı karşıyadır. Çeşitli tipteki bu gemilerin boğaz geçişleri sırasında karışabileceği kazalar telafi edilemez felaketlere sebep olabilir. Bu sebeple geçmişte yaşanan olaylardan ders çıkarılması ve gelecekte kazaya sebep olabilecek risklerin iyi tespit edilmesi ve değerlendirilmesi, olabilecek kazaları önlemek üzere düzenlemeler yapılması gerekmektedir. Mevcut literatür incelendiğinde İstanbul Boğazı ile ilgili kaza analiz çalışmaları, risk analiz modelleme çalışmaları ve trafik düzeni ile ilgili çeşitli çalışmalara rastlamak mümkündür. Bu çalışma ile İstanbul Boğazı’ndaki gemi trafiği seyir emniyetinde riskler oluşturduğu değerlendirilen balıkçı gemileri ve tekneleri hakkında araştırmalar yapılmış ilgili ulusal mevzuatın ve düzenlemelerin yeterliliği incelenmiştir. Çalışmanın içeriğinde İstanbul Boğazının doğal yapısı ile ilgili bilgilere, İstanbul Boğazı’nda manevra, trafik çevresi ve deniz trafiği ile ilgili istatistiklere, İstanbul Boğazı, gemiler ve gemi geçişleri ile ilgili ulusal ve uluslar arası mevzuatın ilgili bölümlerine, su ürünleri ve balıkçılık ile ilgili genel bilgilere ve mevzuatın içeriğine yer verilmiştir. Bahse konu balıkçı gemileri ve tekneleri hakkında İstanbul Boğazı’nda görev yapan Gemi Trafik Hizmetleri personelinin, Sahil Güvenlik Komutanlığı personelinin, Kıyı Emniyeti Genel Müdürlüğü personelinin, kılavuz kaptanların görüşlerine, Bulanık Analitik Hiyerarşik Proses (Fuzzy-Ahp) yöntemi ile hazırlanan anketlerle başvurulmuştur. Son bölümde İstanbul Boğazı paydaşlarına uygulanan anketlerden edinilen verilerin analizi yapılmış, İstanbul Boğazı’ndaki balıkçı teknelerinin durumu, hangi bölgelerde ne kadar risk oluşturduğu belirlenerek sorunu giderebilecek çözümler üretilmesi hedeflenmiş, değerlendirmeler ve önerilerde bulunulmuştur.

The Strait of Istanbul is 17 nmi long, average width is 1,5 nmi and minimum width is 698 meter. Its one of the most critical passage in the world for vessels with its sharp turns, headlands and complex-strong currents which reach 5 knots in some areas. Situated in between the continents of Asia and Europe, Turkey has a strategically important location. In addition to the natural difficulties regarding navigational safety arising from its shape, at the Bosphorus, one of the two straits separating these continents, there is an increasing risk of accidents in spite of the regulations and precautions imposed regarding the number and capacity of ships. In time of peace, merchant vessels and warships shall enjoy complete freedom of transit and navigation in the Straits, by day and by night, under any flag and with any kind of cargo, without any formalities since 1936. Recently, there are about 150 vessels per day and 50.000 annually transiting the Strait while there were transiting 4500 vessels in 1936. In addıtıon to this there are 2500 local traffic vessels navigate daily between Asia and Europe continents[3]. The Turkish Straits passage regime is regulated under the Montreux Convention of 1936. Relating to the regime of the Turkish Straits establishes freedom of passage and navigation. Turkey has safety and envirometal protection interests in Turkish Straits.In the year of 1998 “Maritime Traffic Regulations for the Turkish Straits” approved. The purpose of Vessel Traffic Regulations is to ensure safety of navigation, safety of life, property and marine environment by improving the safety of vessel traffic in the Straits. According to this regulation new traffic separation schemes have been approved by IMO and were adopted. Even though it is not possible to totally eliminate all the risks despite the restrictions and bans in the legislation concerning the ships using İstanbul strait, the regulations implemented within the Turkish waters improve the safety of maneuver, navigation, life and property. Below are the regulations regarding the situation of the fishing boats which are thought to have negative impacts on navigational safety in light of the research consulted during this study. Istanbul, a metropolis considered to be the heart of Turkey’s economy and home to approximately 15 million people according to official data, is a unique city considering its strategical location, history and culture. Yet, this unique city also faces considerable dangers because of the ships crossing the Bosphorus. The potential accidents that may occur during the transit of the ships which vary in size and types may result in irrecoverable disasters. Thus, it is vital to do a risk study based on past accidents and to introduce necessary regulations to avoid possible accidents. It is possible to find studies on accident analyses, risk analysis modeling and traffic regulation of the Bosphorus within the existing literature. When the results of the accidents which occur due to reasons such as the transiting of ships, navigating difficulties of the strait, busy local traffic of the ships are considered, it is obvious that some measures are needed to be taken to avoid any risks which can result in an accident. In this context, it is of significance importance to pinpoint the possible risk factors, to present possible solution ideas and to implement future projects. While passing through narrow canals, it is almost impossible for big tonnage and tramp vessels to maneuver or stop quickly. Considering that its usually one or two persons hunting on the fishing vessels, in the case of a possible breakdown such as a simple engine out, it is possible to cross into the way of a transiting vessel and cause an accident. Such accidents have occurred before. This study investigates the fishing vessels which are considered to be potential risks to the vessel traffic and navigational safety of Bosphorus, as well as the adequacy of the national legislation and regulations on the subject. The content of the study includes information about the natural structure of the Bosphorus, statistics on marine traffic and maneuver, the relevant parts of the national and international legislation on ships and transits, general information on fishing and fisheries. In this study, considering the maneuver and the traffic environment in Strait, the ordinance about the fishing boats-which are assessed to have negative impact on navigational safety-is searched. There are not found any study about this topic in literature. In Istanbul region there are 46 fishing port and total number of fishing vessels are 4.000[28]. Its not possible to determine statistics datas of private boats which conduct amateur piscary activities in Bosphorus. This sudy shows its necessity because of there is no any studies about fishery activities in Bosphorus in literature, even though it has heavy piscary activities.The perceptions of crew of Vessel Traffic Services, Coast Guard, Shore Safety Administration and the Strait Pilots show that fishing vessels occupy traffic separation schemes and there are complaints and informing to Coast Guard Command daily basis who has authority to prevent them and fine them. Also its easy to observe the marine traffic and consider what is going wrong in the Bosphorus during the day. Especially big size merchant ships use ship’s whistle accourding to COLREG that which is in doubt whether sufficient action is being taken by the other to avoid collision, the vessel indicate such doubt by giving at least five short and rapid blasts on the whistle. Considering the ship accidents in the Bosphorus there is not much fishing vessel involved such kind catastrophic accidents.But rates of near miss events are high. The maters of transit ships are under high stress already because of natural diffuculties and often maneuvering.In addition to this criterias small vessels which are occuping the traffic seperation both distractor them and make them more streessed. Considering the maneuver and traffic environment in Istanbul Strait, it was not possible to display the dense fishing areas of boats of less than 15 meters fishing vessels in electronic charts-which are considered to have a negative effect on navigation safety-because they are not obliged to carry AIS equipment. For determining the movements and the effects of fishing boats in Strait; the crews of the Vessel Traffic Services, Coast Guard, Shore Safety Administration and the Strait Pilots for displaying what kind of risks occurs in which areas. Aim of questionnaires which are prepared with Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process method (Fuzzy AHP) for evaluating the perceptions of these crews. The Turkish Straits play an important role in World Trade. The statu of law for Istanbul Strait and the marine traffic problems in the area are described briefly in the beginning of the study. Aim of this study is to point out general marine traffic and the navigational risks especially occur from fishing vessels in the area by different stakeholders who use the Strait for various reasons. Considerations of different participants were utilized for this study. 5 participants of each; Fishers, Pilots, Shore Safety Administration, Coast Guard and the VTS crew of 5 groups were selected non-randomly as stakeholders and questionnaires adopted for FAHP are applied to participants in face-to-face interviews. Each group was asked for 4 questions. The high risk accident areas in İstanbul Strait and accident risk factors for navigation safety were selected from literature review; which constitutes the main frame of the study. The last chapter includes an analysis of the data gathered by the surveys conducted with the shareholders of the Bosphorus, as well as an evaluation of the risk the fishing ships and boats pose, and potential solution proposals. According to the 9th article of International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREG), a fishing boat is not to hinder the passage of a vessel passing through a narrow canal or a gateway. The regulations concerning the passage regime on Turkish straits were made according to the 10th article of COLREG. As per article 9, within the traffic separation scheme, a vessel is not to use the inner traffic lane as long as it can safely use the traffic lane allocated within the traffic separation scheme. In addition, vessels smaller than 20 meters in length, sailing ships and fishing boats can use the inner traffic lane[9]. According to this article, fishing boats or individuals occupied with hunting can use the inner traffic lanes. However, as many small boat owners are not aware of these borders, it is common to intrude into the traffic separation scheme lanes in practice. As per article 10 of COLREG, (e) A vessel other than a crossing vessel or a vessel joining or leaving a lane shall not normally enter a separation zone or cross a separation line except: in cases of emergency to avoid immediate danger; to engage in fishing within a separation zone. According to Maritime Traffic Regulations for the Turkish Straits Convention 2nd Chapter, 3th article, the borders of the traffic separation scheme is defined according to the this article that states “Trafifc seperation scheme is designed according to the 10th article of COLREG which is approved by IMO.” According to the 4th chapter, 30th article of Maritime Traffic Regulations for the Turkish Straits Convention, “It is forbidden to sail with a sailing ship, to shovel, to swim and to hunt within the traffic separation scheme in Turkish straits. Only the sport events such as sailing ships, shoveling and swimming races are subject to permission.” In line with this article, the vessels which hunt and sail within the traffic separation scheme are reported to the port authorities. The articles mentioned above are the implementations imposed with the aim to avoid possible risks. However, it is observed that despite these regulations, hunting activities within the traffic seperation scheme lines still continue. The details about the analyses carried out are given in chapter. Briefly; it was observed that the maneuver and traffic environmental related risk factors in İstanbul Strait were changing regionally, the weight of some regions was heavier and the stakeholders have almost the same consensus on this subject. The “Local Traffic” criteria among the accident risk factors in the Strait and the “fishing boats” criteria among the risk factors in local traffic were highlighted by the results of the questionnaires applied. We can also see that the fishing boats were causing problems in almost all areas among coasts which are non-parallel and across the Strait, in southern entry-exit region, especially in “Sarayburnu-Haydarpaşa” they were invading the traffic separation line together with dense local traffic and in “Kandilli-Bebek Region” they were causing extra stress on traffic and increasing the possible accident risks, where is the narrowest area in the Strait and has the strongest current rates, due to its natural features. The result of the questionnaires gathered from stakeholders also support and accepts the hypothesis of “fishing boats cause dangerous conditions” for navigational safety in Strait. It is important to follow the requirements of the era, the change and development in World and prepare projects for future. Considering the point of sea areas, there are important differences between the transiting ship numbers of 1936 and today, given as an example in relevant chapter. From this example, there are many important subjects to take into account for future. As the core of the study, the risks and the consequences from fishing activities in İstanbul Strait are clearly described in relevant chapters.