Passenger Vessel for Hire by Conservation and Protection for Patrols in waters surrounding the shore of the Gulf of St-Lawrence

TITLE: Passenger Vessel for Hire by Conservation and Protection for Patrols in waters surrounding the shore of the Gulf of St-Lawrence.

DURATION: Contract Award to November 15^th, 2022.

BACKGROUND:

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has an on-going requirement to establish an “as and when requested” Offer to hire a passenger vessel to carry out fisheries enforcement and surveillance responsibilities in the waters surrounding the Eastern shore of New Brunswick.

SERVICES REQUIRED:

DFO has a requirement to hire a fishing vessel between 40 to 44 feet in overall length, with the service of a Captain and a one crewmember. The crewmember is to assist in boarding’s and gear inspections as requested by a Fishery Officer. The Captain or crewmember MUST be bilingual (Intermediate Level).

Gear Inspections & Patrols (with Fishery Officer on board)

• lobster traps, crab traps, gill nets (herring/groundfish/mackerel/salmon/stripe bass),shellfish, long line and others fishery.
• Conduct coastal patrol on lobster, snow crab, herring, mackerel, salmon, striped bass, tuna, groundfish and scallop.

  Vessel Capacity & Capabilities

• Deck space must be large enough to accommodate stacking of minimum of 25 crab traps (diameter of traps is usually between six-seven feet (base/floor) or at least 50 lobster traps.
• The vessel must be equipped with an acceptable lavatory facility.

  Other

• During the contract period, DFO will install a Black Box aboard the fishing vessel. The Black Box will transmit the vessel position in Latitude & Longitude, date & time and speed of the vessel. The contractor will be responsible of having an available 12 volt power outlet on the vessel. 
• The contractor shall:

  (a) not alter or tamper with the black box or its operation;
  (b) destroy, dispose of, or remove the black box or associated records or storage media;

  (c) emit or cause to be emitted any electronic or electric signal that renders the black box inoperative or inaccurate;
  (d) interfere with or block any signals required by the black box gather, record, or transmit information.

  - The captain/crew members must ensure that the black box is fully operational and activated for the complete DFO trip at sea. The captain/crew are responsible for the safe keeping of the black box during the contract period and require to take reasonable care to secure vessel from equipment theft.

• There is a possibility that the vessel may be required to travel outside of the designated working area, if operational requirements permit. This may or may not include Gulf Region waters that boarder the provinces of New Brunswick, PEI and Nova Scotia (see green highlighted area in map attached below). If this is required the captain and crew members are responsible for making their own accommodation arrangements at the contractors expense.
• If the vessel is required to travel away from their designated home port, an overnight stay at that port maybe arranged. The contractor will be compensated for an additional 3 hours of their hourly wage during these instances.
• The contractor will be compensated for a minimum of 3 hours of work for every call for service it is used for.

NOTE: It should be noted that the work to be done involves some risk, such as operating a vessel in adverse weather conditions and possible conflicts with fishermen and/or the public.

Home Port:

For the effective date of contract to November 15th, 2022, one of the following home ports will be assigned to the Contractor:

1) A port between Campbellton, N.B. to Shediac NB.

Prior to the contract award the Contractor and Project Authority will discuss and determine the location of the vessel homeport, the final decision will be taken by the Project Authority. All associated or additional cost incurred to get to and from the designated vessel homeport will rest solely on the captain and crew members.

Sea Duty:

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans will be responsible for compensation of sea duty only. Sea Duty begins when the vessel leave port and terminate when the vessel arrives at port. The daily rate for sea duty will consist of 9.5 hours of sea duty. For any hours of sea duty less than 9.5 hours or in excess of 9.5 hours, compensation will be based on an hourly rate arrived at by dividing the daily rate by 9.5. For extended periods at sea, the maximum allowable compensation per day will be 16 hours.

Standby:

Compensation for standby at ports outside the Contractor’s home port, will be four (4) hours per day while at port for days in which no sea duty is provided. Compensation will be at the hourly rate arrived at by dividing the daily rate by 9.5 as outlined in “Sea Duty” above.

Contractor:

All costs related to operations such as insurance, repairs, maintenance, food, lodging and crew salary are to be borne by the contractor.

The Contractor MUST maintain the vessel in class and to the requirements of all applicable Canadian regulations and keep it in good running order and in a thoroughly efficient state in hull, machinery and equipment for and during the contract period.

ESTIMATED REQUIRED DAYS

It is anticipated that approximately 40 days of sea duty will be provided during the effective date of the contract to November 15, 2022.