CCGS Shamook

Built in 1975 in Prince Edward Island, the CCGS Shamook is used primarily for fisheries research in the Newfoundland and Labrador Region.

The vessel's name comes from the Beothuk word for capelin, a species that has long been a staple in the Newfoundland and Labrador Region's fishing industry.

The Shamook is a very versatile fisheries research platform capable of deploying many types of equipment including various types of trawls, remote operating vehicles, towed camera sleds and transducers¹, and water sampling arrays. It is used for oceanographic, pelagic and groundfish research.

The diesel-powered Shamook can store up to 23,000 litres of fuel, enabling the vessel to remain at sea for up to five days at a time. It also has a reverse osmosis unit to convert saltwater to fresh.

It has two main trawl winches, a 3-tonne deck crane, a net drum, a tugger winch and a hydrographic vertical winch.  It has a 15-foot fast rescue craft with a 50-horsepower engine.  All of the deck's machinery is hydraulic, and most of it is portable.  The Shamook can occupy a three-point mooring arrangement and shift quite easily, which means that it can efficiently maintain fixed stations, particularly in shallow water.

The vessel can accommodate nine people, or as many as 15 for day trips. There is a wet laboratory on board, which is mainly used for fish sampling, and it includes a table and work counter. The on board dry laboratory is generally used as a computer room and for data analysis.

The Shamook has a spacious work area on the aft deck, as well as storage space for samples.

It has two radar, two echo sounders with printing capabilities, a speed log, a gyro compass, eight gyro repeaters, a VHF and HF direction finder, electronic chart system and a Navtex. There are two independent Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) units, and the vessel is outfitted with a trawl monitoring system.

The vessel has a crew of six. And, at all times, at least one crewmember on board is a rescue specialist.

Vessel Particulars

¹Transducer: A transducer sends a signal to the ocean bottom, and back, to determine water depth.
²Draft: How deep the vessel sits in the water.
³Displacement: Weight of vessel.