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Examination Requirements and Prerequisites: (excerpt from the Pacific Pilotage Regulations)

Experience at Sea Qualifications:

(1) An applicant for a licence or pilotage certificate shall hold a certificate of competency not lower than Master 500 Gross Tonnage, Near Coastal and

(a) have served not less than 700 days of service in the region as master of a ship of 25 gross tons or more in the region, and have completed 10 familiarization trips as an observer in the Familiarization Program prior to the date of application; (b) have served not less than 365 days of service in the region as master of a ship of 25 gross tons or more, and have completed not less than 547 additional days in the region as a deck officer on a ship of 25 gross tons or more while holding a Watchkeeping Mate certificate of competency, and have completed 15 familiarization trips as an observer in the Familiarization Program prior to the date of application; (c) have served not less than 1000 days of service in the region as a deck officer on a ship of 25 gross tons or more while holding a Watchkeeping Mate certificate of competency, and have completed not less than 20 familiarization trips as an observer in the Familiarization Program prior to the date of application; or (d) have served not less than 635 days of service in the region as master or as a deck officer while holding a Watchkeeping Mate certificate of competency and (i) have served not less than 365 days of service outside the region as master or as a deck officer while holding a Watchkeeping Mate certificate of competency on a ship of 100 gross tons or more, and have completed 30 familiarization trips as an observer in the Familiarization Program prior to the date of application, or (ii) have served not less than 365 days of service in the region while holding a Fishing Master, Third Class certificate of competency on a ship of 25 gross tons or more, and have completed 30 familiarization trips as an observer in the Familiarization Program prior to the date of application.

(2) A minimum of 100 of the days of service required by subsection (1) must have been served within the 24 months before the date of application.

(3) An applicant for a licence or pilotage certificate for Area 1 must have served a minimum of 250 of the days of service required by subsection (1) in Area 1.

(4) An applicant for a licence for Areas 2 to 5 must have served the days of service required by subsection (1) in at least two of those Areas.

(5) An applicant for a pilotage certificate for Area 2, 3, 4 or 5 must have served at least 250 of the days of service required by subsection in the Area being applied for.

Prerequisites:

Each candidate shall produce proof of having attended the following courses and assessments:

    • 1.SEN 2 /Automatic Radar Plotting Aid (ARPA)
      2.Radio Operators Certificate (ROC) or GMDSS Certificate (GOC)
      3.Bridge Resource Management (BRM)
      4.Marine Emergency Duties (MED)
      5.Transport Canada Medical

    • Each candidate will also be required to undergo a Bio–psychosocial Assessment and be deemed fit for pilotage duties. The PPA will provide eligible candidates with all necessary information to organize this Bio-psychosocial Assessment.

    Nauticapedia

    Site News: December 21, 2024

    The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 94,824 vessel histories (with 16,274 images and 13,929 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters).

    Vessel records are currently being reviewed and updated with more than 45,000 processed so far this year (2024).

    The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,599 entries (with 3996 images).

    Thanks to Ray Warren who is beginning a long process of filling gaps in the photo record of vessel histories in the database. Ray has been documenting the ships of Vancouver Harbour for more than 60 years.

    Thanks to contributor Mike Rydqvist McCammon for the hundreds of photos he has contributed to illustrate British Columbia’s floating heritage.

    My very special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.

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