At-Sea Observers for Snow Crab Survey

An annual snow crab survey is conducted on the Scotian shelf for the purposes of stock assessment. The snow crab fishery is one of the most valuable fisheries in Atlantic Canada and the Scotian Shelf component of this fishery is considered to be the most conservative and relies heavily on quality data from this survey to make informed management decisions.

The requirement for this contract is to provide up to three (3) DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada) certified at-sea observers. The Contractor is also required to provide data entry, data editing and data loading into the DFO ISDB database with all data created through the snow crab survey.

Top-quality data collection, entry, and editing is essential for this contract as the data is used as the basis for an assessment of a snow crab stock which high value and importance to the Maritimes Region. The security requirements assure that all data is handled in accordance with DFO security policy.

The operation of this survey requires eight individuals, four crew members and four scientific staff. The scientific staff generally consists of a chief scientist, a DFO aquatic sciences technician as well as up to three (3) DFO certified at-sea observers. In exceptional circumstances, the balance of scientific staff may shift to 1-3 at-sea observers for short periods of time depending on operational requirements.

The at-sea observers are responsible for sorting of the catch caught by the trawl net at each survey station and providing biological measurements of the animals caught.

1.3 Contract Period

On or about July 15, 2016 through to April 30, 2017, (8.5 Months), with options to renew for 3 additional 1 year periods at the sole discretion of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).

Option periods if exercised will be May 1, 2017 through to April 30, 2018, May 1, 2018 through to April 30, 2019 and May 1, 2019 through April 30, 2020.

The Project work will take place between approximately August 15 and January 15 of each contract year.

A maximum of 420 survey stations (plus up to 20 additional “expanded sampling” stations) will be completed. Exact dates will be determined by the DFO Project Authority. These dates (and the required working days throughout) will be contingent on operational considerations of the charter vessel (work place) based on such factors as weather, vessel maintenance/ repair requirements, etc.

1.4 Contract Area of Operations

The work will be conducted throughout the Scotian Shelf in Crab Fishing Areas: N-ENS, 23, 24 and 4X.

1.5 Level of Effort

An estimated usage of up to 165 sea days over the course of an estimated 10-15 trips at sea. These trips will sail from or land in various ports across Nova Scotia from North Sydney to Lunenburg.

Data Entry, Editing and Loading

• Based on the last three years of survey data, an estimate of approximately 2,000,000 keystrokes will be required for data entry.
• An estimate of time required to edit and load the survey data is 40-60 hours.

1.6 Tasks

Observers:

The observers will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Sorting of trawl net catch into individual species
• Providing exact biological measurements of various crab species as per survey sampling protocol Appendix A-1.
• Recording all measurements on proper paper forms (see. Appendix A-2)

Data entry:

• Data entry into DFO ISDB database
• Data quality checks to ensure quality of data through double key punch, visual and automated edits.
• Make all subsequent changes to database (for error correction purposes) within 48 hours of notification by scientist-in-charge