Vessel Charter for Water Sampling, Deployment and Recovery of Oceanographic Instruments off Halifax Harbour

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has invested in new technology to enhance their monitoring programs. The area off Halifax has been identified as an important location for obtaining data. DFO intends to retrieve water samples as well as deploy and retrieve instruments in this location to obtain physical, biological and chemical information annually.

Most of the DFO field activities are completed with a Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) vessel, but DFO sometimes requires chartering a vessel to pursue the monitoring activities when the CCG vessels are not available. The objective is to conduct water sampling and/or deployment/retrieval of oceanographic instrument such as autonomous vehicles, moorings, CTD rosette and drift buoys.

DFO will contact the contractor at least 48 hours in advance. The chartered vessel will pick up the DFO equipment and personnel at the vendor’s wharf, in the Halifax, NS area, where the equipment will be loaded onto the vessel. Most of the loading/unloading can be done by hand, but some parts of the equipment weigh more than 50 pounds. For the heavier equipment, the vessel’s crane will be used for loading as well as for deployment or recovery at sea.

After the equipment has been loaded, the chartered vessel will then transport the personnel and equipment to a pre-determined site off the Halifax Coast (Figure 1). DFO staff will provide the geographic coordinates for the site and estimated time at sea at least 24h before departure. DFO staff will prepare the equipment on the vessel and will retrieve or deploy the instrument with the assistance from the vessel captain and/or crew. Estimated total time for water sampling, deployment or retrieval along with travel to and from the site is 3-8 hours depending on the activity and instrument type.

Vessel chartering could be requested up to 20 times per year ‘on an as needed basis’ depending of DFO needs.