Fisheries And Oceans Canada News

An emerging technology to fish for lobsters virtually ropeless to prevent whale entanglements is exciting conservationists, but getting a frigid reception from harvesters worried it will drive them out of business and upend their way of life.Injuries to endangered North Atlantic Right Whales ensnared in fishing gear have fueled a prominent campaign by environmental groups to pressure the industry to adopt on-demand equipment that only suspends ropes in the water briefly before traps are pulled from the water.The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch…

The Canadian Coast Guard has revealed big plans to invest in its fleet of small vessels.Joyce Murray, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, on Thursday announced $2.5 billion CAD (roughly $1.8 billion USD) for the construction of up to 61 new small vessels and the ongoing replacement of small craft, barges and workboats within the Canadian Coast guard fleet.“This is a critical investment that will help modernize the Canadian Coast Guard’s small vessel fleet,” Murray said.

The Canadian Coast Guard is decommissioning its oldest serving vessel after 59 years of service.The offshore oceanographic and hydrographic survey vessel CCGS Hudson, taken out of service after a starboard propulsion motor failure in November 2021, will be decommissioned due to the scale of the problem and the time and cost to repair it, combined with the costs associated with an upcoming period of regulatory compliance work."It has been determined that the ship is beyond economical repair and further investment would not allow it to return to reliable service," the Coast Guard said on Wednesday.Built at Saint John Shipbuilding, the 90.4-meter-long CCGS Hudson entered service in 1963 as the first Canadian ship constructed specifically for hydrographic and oceanographic survey work.

NOAA and partners have joined together to launch approximately 100 new Argo floats across the Atlantic ocean to collect data that supports ocean, weather and climate research and prediction. These will bolster the international Argo Program, which maintains a global array of about 3,800 floats that measure pressure, temperature and salinity of the upper 2,000 meters (1.2 miles) of the ocean.The French sailing vessel Iris recently arrived in Woods Hole, Mass., after deploying the initial batch of 17 Argo floats across the Atlantic.

In a typical year, the waters surrounding British Columbia’s Port of Vancouver host approximately 3,000 deep sea commercial vessels and 19 of the 35 ferries operated by BC Ferries, one of the largest ferry operators in the world. These waters are also home to a wide variety of aquatic wildlife, including the southern resident killer whales (SRKW), which have been listed as endangered in Canada since 2003.With vessel-generated acoustic disturbances identified by Fisheries and Oceans Canada as one of four key threats to the SRKW…

Canadian shipbuilder Seaspan Shipyards announced on Monday it has cut steel and started full-rate construction of the newest oceanographic science research vessel for the Canadian Coast Guard and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.The 88-meter Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel (OOSV) is being built under Canada's National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) at Seaspan’s multi-program Vancouver Shipyard concurrently with the first Joint Support Ship (JSS) for the Royal Canadian Navy.The OOSV will support oceanographic…

exactEarth Ltd. has signed an agreement with MDA to provide advanced Satellite-AIS data services as part of MDA's recently announced Dark Vessel Detection (DVD) program for the Government of Canada. The DVD program is intended to detect and identify vessels that have switched off their AIS transponders and are engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.IUU fishing is a global problem that results in significant economic loss—estimated at $23 billion per year…

The Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern communities that rely heavily on seafood and marine mammals for food.But who would have imagined that the clothes we wear might add to this onslaught? Evidence increasingly shows that tiny synthetic fibers are permeating the Arctic Ocean and finding their way into zooplankton…

Seaspan Shipyards has delivered Canada's first new Offshore Fisheries Science Vessels (OFSV), the CCGS Sir John Franklin, to the Canadian Coast Guard (Coast Guard).An official handover ceremony took place aboard the vessel attended by the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, senior officials from the Coast Guard, Seaspan and supply chain partners.The delivery of the first OFSV is the culmination of years of work by hundreds of dedicated Seaspan employees and supply chain partners from across Canada.As the first large vessel to be built and delivered to the Government of Canada under the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS)…

Seaspan Shipyards (Seaspan) hosted an event celebrating the launch of the second Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel (OFSV). In addition to dignitaries from the Government of Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard (Coast Guard), the Government of British Columbia and Seaspan’s supplier network, hundreds of proud employees attended the event with their families.The launch of OFSV 2 is the culmination of years of work by hundreds of dedicated Seaspan employees and supply chain partners from across Canada.

The near-shore and inland workboat fleet is at the leading edge for autonomous vessel developmentWhile the advent of autonomous workboats are not exactly mainstream, you better believe that in the not-too-distant future they will be a reality on waterways in and around the U.S. Today there remain more questions than answers, particularly on the legal, logistics and insurance side of the coin. But the technology is evolving at record pace, providing many in the industry with mixed emotions. Excitement. Controversy. Curiosity. Skepticism. These are just a few of thoughts, and emotions that arise to any mention of the topic of autonomous vessels.It’s happening now.

The Government of Canada is testing aqua-tools’ B-QUA ballast water sampling and monitoring kit for possible use in the Canadian ballast water surveillance program. The program is being led a research scientist from Fisheries and Oceans Canada out of the Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, in Burlington, Ontario. The research scientist leading the program was also involved in a 2015 study to test the efficiency of various ballast water testing methods onboard the research vessel Meteor on behalf of Germany’s Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH).

Canadian shipyard Davie said it has secured a contract for the upgrade and refit of Canada’s heaviest icebreaker, 50-year-old CCGS Louis St Laurent. The $14 million program, part of the Canadian Coast Guard’s multi-year maintenance plan, will mark the return of the CCGS Louis St Laurent to Davie in February 2017. According to a representative of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, CCGS Louis St Laurent and its hull are in good condition, and the refit work set to take place from February 16 to June 23 has been commissioned to extend the life of the vessel and maintain its reliability.

The Port of Prince Rupert has commissioned a new shore-based radar regime designed to safely accommodate the port’s growth in vessel traffic and international trade. Shore-based radar builds on the existing vessel traffic service that provides active vessel monitoring and navigational information to vessels at the Port of Prince Rupert. Transmitting data from three tower sites across the port’s coastal shores, the system provides coverage ranging from the northeast of Haida Gwaii to the Alaskan border. “The addition of radar improves the capability of the port to proactively monitor and manage vessel movement in the harbor,” said Don Krusel, President & CEO of the Prince Rupert Port Authority.

Canada has launched its 2016 Arctic expedition to collect important scientific information to support the nation’s submission on the extended continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean. This year’s survey is a collaborative effort with Sweden, and Danish scientists will also participate in the research. The Canadian icebreaker CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent left Dartmouth on July 22, 2016, for Tromsø, Norway, where it will take on board personnel from Natural Resources Canada’s Geological Survey of Canada…

Canadian Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, Hunter Tootoo, announced that Kanter Marine Inc. of St. Thomas, Ontario is the winning bidder for the procurement of seven new survey vessels for the Canadian Hydrographic Service to support the seabed surveying and charting of Canada’s navigable waters. The $5.3 million investment will go toward customized hydrographic survey vessels that will be outfitted with permanent state-of-the-art multibeam sonar systems to help the Canadian Hydrographic Service continue to meet rigorous international standards for hydrographic surveys. Once built, the seven new vessels will be added to the existing survey vessel fleet located across Canada. The new vessels will be employed to collect data in the St.

Turner Designs, along with scientists from around the world participated in a research cruise aboard the RV Meteor, a vessel owned by the Federal Republic of Germany through the Ministry of Research and Technology (BMFT) and funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The goal of this cruise was focused on ballast water sampling techniques and protocols. Various instruments were used to test collected ballast water enabling researchers to determine efficiency for the various sampling techniques employed.

The Honorable Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, announced today an investment to improve safety and working conditions for fishermen at Naufrage Harbor, Prince Edward Island. This funding will be used to replace a section of an existing deteriorated wharf with a new structure, repair the entrance breakwater and carry out maintenance dredging of the channel. Since 2006, the Government of Canada has provided an unprecedented level of funding to support investments in public infrastructure across the country. Last fall, Prime Minister Harper announced an additional investment of $5.8 billion over the next two years to build and renew infrastructure across the country to support Canadian heritage…

The entry into force of new regulations to strengthen the prevention of aquatic invasive species (AIS) in Canadian waters was announced today by Canada’s Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Gail Shea. The Government of Canada, which spends more than $14 million on AIS issues annually, worked with provincial and territorial governments to develop the Aquatic Invasive Species Regulations. The regulations provide tools for both the Department and provinces to prevent the introduction and spread of AIS…

On behalf of the Honorable Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Pat Davidson, Member of Parliament for Sarnia-Lambton announced that the Government of Canada will fund work to upgrade the storage tank at the Port Lambton Inshore Rescue Boat Station. This investment will ensure that the search and rescue vessels that rely on this tank will continue to have timely access to fuel. Last year, the Station completed 24 missions. In turn, the Government of Canada ensures that the services that keep Canada’s waters safe and secure are well-maintained. “Providing the hardworking men and women of the Canadian Coast Guard with updated facilities is essential to their work,” Shea said.

A partnership between Canadian government and private industry today unveiled high precision 3D printed models of HMS Erebus, Sir John Franklin’s lead ship found last year in Canada’s Arctic waters as part of Parks Canada’s search for the vessels of the lost 1845 expedition. The model was unveiled in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Officials from Fisheries and Oceans Canada joined with Canadian geospatial software company CARIS and geomatics technology innovation support centre TECTERRA to unveil the models.

The 2014 Summary of Great Lakes Seaway Ballast Water Management activities was released by the Great Lakes Ballast Water Working Group (BWWG) Thursday. The BWWG aims to harmonize ballast water management efforts between the U.S. Coast Guard, Transport Canada – Marine Safety and Security, the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, and the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. According to the report, 100 percent of ships bound for the Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence Seaway from outside the Exclusive Economic Zone received a ballast tank exam in 2014.

Monitoring efforts along the Pacific Coast of the U.S. and Canada have detected the presence of small amounts of radioactivity from the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident 100 miles (150 km) due west of Eureka, California. Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) found the trace amounts of telltale radioactive compounds as part of their ongoing monitoring of natural and human sources of radioactivity in the ocean. In the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami off Japan, the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant released cesium-134 and other radioactive elements into the ocean at unprecedented levels. Since then, the radioactive plume has traveled west across the Pacific, propelled largely by ocean currents and being diluted along the way.