Offshore Patrol Vessel Charter

Offshore Patrol Vessel Charter - Vessel Information Package

Scope

1.1 Contract Period

Contract award through to March 31, 2024, with options to renew for (2) two additional (1) one year periods at the sole discretion of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).

1.2 Objective

Canada has a requirement for an offshore patrol vessel on a time charter basis to conduct and facilitate fisheries compliance and monitoring activities within an extensive area of the North Pacific Ocean ranging from Canada’s Pacific Coast to the northcentral and northwestern Pacific Ocean.

1.3 Background

The Conservation and Protection (C&P) Directorate of Fisheries & Oceans Canada (DFO) is initiating boarding and inspection program to be conducted on the high seas of the North Pacific Ocean.

Presently, DFO and the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) do not have the necessary program vessels within the Pacific fleet to fulfil C&P’s offshore requirements beyond Canada’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Pacific Ocean.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada requires an offshore fisheries patrol vessel charter capable of operating within a vast area of the North Pacific Ocean, including the northwestern and central Pacific Ocean, to facilitate boarding and inspection activities to be completed by teams of Canadian fishery officers, who will perform these monitoring and compliance activities upon the industrial fishing vessel fleets that operate within this region. The fisheries monitoring and compliance activities will be seasonal in nature, and will occur between the months of June and October for a total of approximately 65 - 90 operational days each year. Canada will initiate this new fisheries monitoring and compliance program for the purpose of further protecting and conserving fish stocks vital to the health of marine ecosystems within the North Pacific Ocean and to Canada’s sustainable fisheries sectors, coastal communities and indigenous peoples.

An offshore patrol vessel charter will be required to serve as a “mothership” for two rigid-hull inflatable boats (RHIBs), which will be launched from the charter vessel and crewed with DFO boarding and inspection teams, who will proceed to effect the inspection activities of fishing vessels from aboard the RHIB. The inspection activities will be carried out in accordance with Canadian fisheries legislation and the legal framework of international fisheries treaties and regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) to which Canada is a member, including the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC), Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC), Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) and the North Pacific Anadromous Fisheries Commission (NPAFC), which authorize Canada to conduct monitoring and compliance activities of foreign-flagged fishing vessels on the high seas.

In addition to the offshore patrol vessels primary function of transiting and patrolling the extensive waters of the North Pacific to and from operational areas, and launching and recovering boarding teams from a ship-carried RHIB for daily inspection activities, there may be other associated activities carried out onboard, including scientific water sampling, and the ship-based deployment of remotely-piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) to conduct monitoring of fisheries activities.