E-Audit: Energy use in Italian fishing vessels

Recent oil price increases have brought renewed attention to energy-saving methods in the fishing industry. Due to the European commission restrictions on new constructions, the major opportunities for reducing fuel consumption are chiefly related to improving vessel operation rather than commissioning new energy saving vessels. Large number of fishing vessels is not efficient usually because of outdated technology. Fuel efficiency directly affects emissions causing pollution by affecting the amount of fuel used. In the current experiment some fishing vessels, representing the various fleet sectors of the Italian fisheries, were selected for the fuel efficiency audit. The vessels were divided on the basis of type of fisheries and vessel size. An energy audit template was developed to assess the main vessel and equipment features: engine usage, trip scheduling, propeller, etc. Onsite visual inspections were performed during the audit. during the fishing cruises a data acquisition system allowed to record and diagnose the vessels work parameters, offering a real-time dynamics. Subsequently detailed analysis of energy usage was carried out. In order to assess the energy performance, two energy indicators were proposed: energy consumption indicator (ECI [kJ/(GT ? kn)]) and the fuel consumption indicator (FCI [l/(h ? GT ? kn)])