Environment and Climate Change Canada’s disposal at sea program is seeking a Contractor to provide sediment profile imaging and analysis services.
Disposal at sea is the disposal of a substance at sea from a ship, an aircraft, a platform or another structure. Disposal at sea is permitted by Canadian law under Part 7, Division 3 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA 1999). These permits allow Canada to meet international obligations to prevent marine pollution by regulating the disposal of wastes and other matter in accordance with the London Convention and subsequent London Protocol. Acceptable substances are listed in Schedule 5 of CEPA 1999. In British Columbia (Environment and Climate Change Canada – Pacific and Yukon Region), the permitted substances consist primarily of dredged material from river or marine sources or inert, inorganic geological material from land based excavation.
Disposal site monitoring is an integral part of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s disposal at sea program. Monitoring helps ensure permit conditions are met and that assumptions made during the application review were appropriate to protect human health and the environment. Monitoring techniques include sediment sampling, multi-beam and backscatter acoustic surveys, Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) seafloor video surveys, laboratory analyses to identify physical and chemical constituents, as well as benthic community analysis.
