DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17782191
title: Data from "A regression-based method to estimate vessel mass for use in whale-ship strike risk models"

description: This data was used to create equations to convert the length overall to the total mass of a vessel for twelve different vessel types. The converted mass is then used in a biophysical model to calculate the lethality of a ship collision with a whale. The dataset comprises 873 vessels, with information on the type, length overall (LOA, meters), deadweight tonnage (DWT, tonnes), displacement (kg), net weight (kg), and passenger capacity. Vessel characteristics were obtained from a subset of static AIS data or from online sources (link included).

Files include:

vessel_data.csv : data used in the manuscript 

READ_ME.txt : description of the csv file

length_to_mass_regression.R : R code for the manuscript and supplementary material

length-to-mass-regression.pdf : PDF of R markdown file, displaying results and figures from the manuscript and supplementary material

 
description: Vessel-whale collisions are one of the major threats that large whales face worldwide. The probability of lethal injury is an important factor to consider when conducting vessel strike risk assessment, which helps identify areas most at risk. To calculate the probability of lethality, these assessments have commonly used published models, which only account for the vessel speed. A biophysical model has been developed to simulate a vessel strike and estimate a probability of lethality, better accounting for the multiple parameters involved in the interaction, such as whale morphology, vessel dimensions, as well as speed. While the biophysical model is likely to provide more accurate estimates of lethality, some of the parameters required in the model input are not readily accessible, particularly a vessel’s displacement (i.e. its total mass). To facilitate the use of the biophysical model for all users, our objective was to compute vessel type-specific equations to convert a vessel’s length overall to an estimated displacement. We collected the characteristics from n = 873 vessels,  including vessel length overall, maximum deadweight tonnage and total displacement when available. Vessel data was collected from Automatic Information System static data and other sources and represented twelve vessel types. We computed a linear regression to test the correlation between the log of vessel length and the log of displacement, by vessel type. Regressions from all vessel types were at least significantly different from one other vessel type. We demonstrate that these equations can then be used to compute the probability of lethality of a vessel strike with the biophysical model and obtain an estimate factored by vessel size. This can be an important tool for risk assessments and can better inform management and conservation measures for large whales.

 

A regression-based method to estimate vessel mass for use in whale-ship strike risk modelsMayette A, Brillant SW (2026) A regression-based method to estimate vessel mass for use in whale-ship strike risk models. PLOS ONE 21(2): e0339760. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0339760