GLOVERTOWN, N.L. - The MV Nuliajuk will be ready to come home to Nunavut in July and begin its first research project, as its finishing touches are currently being done in Newfoundland.

Pangnirtung artist Andrew Qappik's pair of Sednas on the bow of the Government of Nunavut's MV Nuliajuk are one metre wide and 1.8 metres long. - photo courtesy of Tim Rast

"She's 99.9 per cent completed," said Wayne Lynch, director of fisheries and sealing for the Government of Nunavut's Department of Environment.

The government will use the 19.5 metre vessel, whose name means "the goddess or mother of the sea," for research to investigate the territory's inshore and offshore resources.

Lynch said the vessel passed its sea trials conducted by Transport Canada.

This included things like seeing how fast a boat can turn to one side, if it can do emergency stops, stability testing and safety checks.

The vessel is equipped with long lines, an otter trawl, gill nets, scallop drag, purse/bar seine and various fishing pots, a wet and dry laboratory, a steel hull and a twin propulsion system with fixed propellers. The vessel also has four fuel tanks totalling a capacity of 23,091 (6,100 gallons) of fuel and two fresh water tanks with a total capacity of 6,624 of water (1,750 gallons).

It was constructed in Glovertown Shipyards in Newfoundland and will remain there until it is ready to set sail.

Its first project will be in Cumberland Sound.

"We will be looking at eliminating the bycatch of Greenland sharks from hooks and lines and doing turbot and shark tagging," Lynch said.

This will be done in partnership with the Government of Nunavut, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and other industry partners.

The overall cost of the vessel is $3.2 million.

The federal government contributed approximately $2.2 million. This money came from the Arctic Research Infrastructure Fund, which is for contributing funds to upgrade research facilities across the North. The GN contribution was $263,000.

At the end of the fiscal year, additional funds were left over from other projects and a $256,000 scanner system was purchased. This will be used by scientists to tell where the trawl is, the current, the temperature and if fish are being caught.

In May 2010, then deputy environment minister Simon Awa said the department is projecting the annual operating costs of the vessel to be between $300,000 and $350,000. This money will come from the GN and the funds generated from the chartering of the vessel.

When fully staffed it can accommodate a crew of eight. Minimum crew requirements to run the vessel are four – a captain, mate and two deck hands.

On May 16, a request for proposal was issued for crew.

"We will continue to push that there are beneficiaries on board," Lynch said.

Additional points will be awarded for those proposals that use beneficiaries, he said, and companies will be strongly encouraged to work with the Nunavut Fisheries Training Consortium.

Tuppaungai Qatsiya of Cape Dorset, who graduated from the consortium as a fisheries observer in 2008, has been working in the shipyard in Newfoundland since October 2010.

"We're hoping he will be steaming up with her as crew for this summer," said Michael Walsh, project officer with the NFTC.

He said they are working closely with the department to ensure as many Nunavummiut as possible have the skills and training to work on the vessel.

With few ports in the territory, a home base for the vessel during the summer months has yet to be established. There are currently no ports in Nunavut suitable for docking a vessel of this size.

Lynch said the boat will be registered to Nunavut and its home port will be Iqaluit.

The vessel has a 317 kilogram anchor as well as a 136 kilogram back-up anchor which an be secured at any location.

The bottom of the vessel is flat, Lynch said, so it can go on the mudflats and dry out.

It also has two Zodiacs on board, one which will be used for emergencies and the other for movement of crew and supplies.

A pair of Sednas

The bow of the boat has a pair of Sednas painted on it by renowned Pangnirtung artist Andrew Qappik.

He said when he first got approached about the project he thought it would be a good canvas to work on.

"I've never done that before so I might as well do it," Qappik said, adding it was the first boat he has ever painted.

Taking inspiration from Inuit legends and stories, each Sedna is approximately one metre wide and 1.8 metres long (3.5 feet by six feet long). The same image is reflected on each side of the bow.

Qappik said it took him about five days in December to paint the images.

The boat was already in the water so he stood on a forklift to do the work.

'I had to wear a life vest," he said. "That was a first for me when painting."

The Department of Environment hopes to have a commemoration ceremony for the boat in Iqaluit in July before it heads off to start its work in Cumberland Sound for the remainder of the summer.

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