Ocean Assemblage

Objective

To provide the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) with the capability to operate in all of Canada’s waters, including Canada’s Arctic waters, throughout the navigable season.  The acquisition of the Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS) will increase the CAF’s capacity to defend Canada and its security, including in the Arctic.

Requirements

AOPS will be an ice-capable ship, with icebreaking characteristics to allow for year-round operations in up to and including one metre of first-year ice of high ice concentrations which may include old ice inclusions. It will also possess sea-keeping qualities to allow operations in the open ocean. AOPS will be fitted with gun systems appropriate for use in domestic constabulary roles and force protection, and designed to operate effectively in the anticipated extreme climates. AOPS crew will be up to 65 personnel, with accommodation in the ship for an additional 20 mission personnel who will be embarked as required for more complex taskings including those in support of other Government departments.  It will be capable of a maximum sustained speed of at least 17 kts, with a range of more than 6800 nautical miles.  It is capable of autonomous operations for up to 4 months.  AOPS has been designed to operate and hangar an organic aircraft. While it is anticipated that it will most frequently embark smaller utility helicopters, it will have sufficient capabilities to provide limited support to CH 148 Cyclone operations. AOPS will operate an assortment of boats and crafts to provide rescue, humanitarian, mission, and limited sealift capabilities. The ship is designed with enclosed and open storage facilities to accommodate an array of stores, including 20-ft ISO containers and utility vehicles.  It is capable of loading and offloading these cargos in various locations, such as jetties, landing craft, as well as onto the ice.

Preliminary Estimate

• More than $1.5 billion

Anticipated Timeline

• 2014
  • Implementation Approval
• 2015
  • Contract Award
• 2021 to 2025
  • Final Delivery

Point of Contact

Director Naval Requirements
Phone: 819-939-3951
Email: DAG_Naval-GAD_Naval@forces.gc.ca

The recently established Canadian Integrated Ocean Observing System/Système Intégré d’Observation des Océans du Canada (CIOOS/SIOOC) is a national effort to facilitate the knowledge exchange in ocean sciences and to make oceanographic data from various public, private and academic stakeholders discoverable and accessible to the end-user. It is an initiative that is jointly funded by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the Marine Environmental, Observation, Prediction and Response Network (MEOPAR).

In it’s pilot phase (2018 – 2020) CIOOS/SIOOC established three regional associations (RA); Pacific, St. Lawrence, and Atlantic, that will each build a data infrastructure in collaboration with their regional data providers and users. A national, centralized, open and web-based platform will aggregate the regionally managed ocean data, supporting a one-stop-shop approach to the discovery and access of information for ocean related research and decision making. Interoperability with international standards and organisations is an important aspect of the CIOOS/SIOOC initiative and will enable contributions to the global effort of better understanding the ocean, it’s issues and interactions with other earth systems.

In order for the RA’s to mutually agree on metadata best practises and a standard that is contributing to CIOOS/SIOOC’s initial Essential Ocean Variables (EOV) being FAIR compliant, the Metadata Working Group was established in early 2019. One of the main working group deliverables will be the development of a metadata profile that is based on ISO 19115 and sufficiently describes all relevant aspects of the EOV. In addition, topics including controlled vocabularies, persistent identifiers, granularity, quality control, workflows and tools will be addressed and recommendations formulated. Besides CIOOS/SIOOC partners including Ocean Networks Canada, St. Lawrence Global Observatory, Ocean Tracking Network, Ocean Frontier Institute, OTN/MEOPAR Glider Program, and the Hakai Institute, non-CIOOS/SIOOC stakeholders such as MERIDIAN and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, have been invited to contribute to the metadata working group. This measure will ensure that the decisions made and recommendations suggested are consistent, agreeable and compliant with other Canadian members of the ocean community. Even though passive acoustic data are not part of the initial set of CIOOS/SIOOC EOVs, we, as in MERIDIAN, appreciate the opportunity and hope that we can pave the way for a smooth integration of acoustic data at a later stage.

The OceanObs’19 conference is a community-driven conference that brings people from all over the planet together to communicate the decadal progress of ocean observing networks and to chart innovative solutions to society’s growing needs for ocean information in the coming decade.

OceanObs’19 will continue to develop strategies for a sustained, multidisciplinary and integrated ocean observing system, and better connect user communities and observers. Input (in the form of Community White Papers), will help shape strategy development throughout the conference and for the upcoming decade. The conference and Community White Papers will revolve around 10 vital societal benefit themes and the conference objectives. Additional synthesis and vision papers will be developed from input during the conference. 

WOC Secretariat will be participating in the U.N. Law of the Sea, BBNJ Treaty – 3^rd Negotiation Session on the international, legally binding instrument under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea re the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) as Industry Representative on 19-30 August in New York.

Join us in welcoming GeoSpectrum Technologies founder, Dr. Bruce Armstrong, on September 19 at COVE for our Ocean Connector.

The physics of hydrophones is easy to understand; mastery of the implementation of those ideas can be tricky. This talk will explain the physics in terms everyone should be able to understand. Topics covered will be piezoelectric ceramics, why a high frequency hydrophone is a poor choice to measure low frequencies and vice versa, preamp noise and how it relates to hydrophone sensitivity, why the low-frequency sensitivity of a hydrophone is a ruler-straight line, and why it is sometimes better to calibrate hydrophones in air rather than water. Finally, you will learn that if you utter the words “rho-c”, you may be putting your professional reputation at risk.

Dr. Armstrong has been designing transducers for over 41 years. In 1978 he began work as a Defence Scientist in the transducer group at DRDC-A. In 1985, he began working for Ultra Electronics Maritime Systems, where he designed DIFAR (vector) hydrophones for sonobuoys. In 1994, he founded GeoSpectrum Technologies, where he still works today, guiding the technical teams.

On behalf of the Newfoundland and Labrador aquaculture industry, we invite you to join us for our 26th Annual Cold Harvest Conference and Trade Show; full of exciting and informative discussions related to aquaculture and its potential in our province. With world class keynote speakers and guests, sessions and panel discussions related to aquaculture innovation, technology, human resources and consumer trends. The 2018 event was a record breaker in Canada with a sold-out trade show and more than 450 guests in attendance. We hope to exceed this at Cold Harvest 2019! This event should not be missed.

On behalf of the Newfoundland and Labrador aquaculture industry, we invite you to join us for our 26th Annual Cold Harvest Conference and Trade Show; full of exciting and informative discussions related to aquaculture and its potential in our province. With world class keynote speakers and guests, sessions and panel discussions related to aquaculture innovation, technology, human resources and consumer trends. The 2018 event was a record breaker in Canada with a sold-out trade show and more than 450 guests in attendance. We hope to exceed this at Cold Harvest 2019! This event should not be missed.

Description: Marine protected areas (MPAs), sanctuaries, and reserves offer refuge to a wide variety of marine species, but can they also protect vulnerable organisms from the effects of ocean acidification (OA) and other climate-related stressors? Increasingly, OA scientists and MPA managers are working together to explore questions of adaptability in marine protected areas to explore this question and sharing their ideas on a dynamic new online platform called the OA Information Exchange (OAIE). In this webinar, we will: 1) provide an orientation to the OAIE to the MPA community and other new users, 2) describe how innovative collaborations between researchers and volunteer scientists are advancing both OA and MPA science in Oregon Marine Reserves, and 3) provide examples of efforts to document changing ocean conditions and understand potential impacts of ecosystem change in Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, including how the development of a sentinel site for ocean acidification on the Olympic Coast supports OA coordination and collaboration in Washington. [Please note that this webinar will last 1.5 hours.]

Carey Ryan, Offshore Energy Research Assocoation
“Microbial genomics for de-risking offshore oil and gas exploration in Nova Scotia”

Purpose and Goals: The purpose of the project is to develop, validate, and deploy different genomics-based bioassay tools for offshore prospecting on the Scotian Slope. The bioassays will be based on principles of microbial oceanography and ecology and focus on both bacteria that actively metabolise hydrocarbons in the seabed, as well as dormant bacteria (endospores of thermophiles) expelled from subsurface oil reservoirs via hydrocarbon seepage. Genomics results will be integrated with conventional geoscience information to map petroleum potential with the goal of attracting and maintaining large-scale investments by the offshore petroleum industry in Nova Scotia.

Description: The project is organized around five primary activities: (1) A piston coring program to be under-taken during three successive summers to collect seabed samples in proximity to suspected oil seeps; (2) Geochemical analysis to identify the presence of and characterize hydrocarbons in the samples, determine total organic carbon, and provide insights into the origins of the organic matter; (3) Marine microbiology and genomics applied to the samples using different bioassay strategies to investigate the presence of different target groups of microorganism; (4) Integration, analysis and mapping to bring together geomicrobiology with the results of concurrent geoscience studies to generate GIS data packages and maps in a framework that will enable inter¬ested oil companies to undertake independent evaluations; and (5) Project management and dissemination to ensure that project objectives are being met, coordinate the project’s various elements, administer the financial aspects of the project, and disseminate the results. Evaluation of microbial lipids in the samples is an additional component that has been added to the project.

The Sustainable Oceans Conference is a free public event that brings together an audience of students, faculty, members of the marine management community, and the general public. This conference is supported by the Sobey Fund for Oceans and is organized annually by the students of the Marine Affairs Program at Dalhousie University. It is the only student-led conference of its kind in Atlantic Canada, and is being held for the 8th consecutive year.

The conference aims to explore multi-disciplinary approaches for creating healthy oceans and sustainable economies. Collectively, the Sustainable Oceans Conference aims to promote opportunities for collaboration on solutions addressing a range of issues affecting our ocean ecosystems.  While the overall aim of the event remains the same, each new class brings in different perspectives, themes, keynote speakers, and academic presentations that make each year’s conference unique.

The theme of this year’s conference is One Ocean, Infinite Connections. Our connection to the ocean is boundless. Every second breath we take and much of the food we eat comes from the ocean. Yet, the wicked problems facing the ocean often result in conflict and divide amongst user groups and disciplines. It is important to recognize that these issues cannot be solved from one perspective. This year we aim to build bridges between diverse knowledge groups and encourage individuals to consider a new knowledge perspective towards the ocean.

The Sustainable Oceans Conference 2019 will take place on Friday September 27, 2019 from 6:30pm – 9:30pm, and Saturday September 28, 2019 from 9:00am – 5:30pm. The conference will be held in the McInnes Room on the second floor of the Dalhousie Student Union Building at 6136 University Avenue.