Acoustics and netting of local spawning beds for spring herring

Acoustics and netting of local spawning beds for spring herring:

1.2 Contracting Period

Contract award through to February 28, 2023, (approximately 12 Months) with options to renew for 1 additional 1 year period at the sole discretion of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).

The Project work will take place between March 31st and date July 31 of each year. Exact dates will be determined by the DFO scientist in-charge.

1.3 Introduction

In order to enhance scientific knowledge of spring herring populations in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, this project will survey spring herring spawning grounds and collect data to develop an index of abundance for each fishing area to increase area specific information in the stock assessment. The information gathered will also be used to assess local indices of recruitment, size at maturity, mesh selectivity and relative fishing mortalities. The experimental nets (or an alternate net of DFO choice to be determined at contract award) will also be equipped with a temperature logger to collect environmental information about conditions on the spawning areas.

Vessel required to conduct acoustic and netting surveys. DFO will provide guidance and manage the project.

The work of this project is divided into three regions with 3 tasks in each region, as follows:

Region 5) 16E – PEI, North side – Tignish

Region 6) 16E – PEI, North side – Malpeque Bay

Region 7) 16E – PEI, South side

Task 1: One licensed herring fishing vessel in each of regions 5 to 7 will conduct stratified random acoustic surveys to determine the relative abundance of the spring herring schools. This information may be used to determine relative abundance estimates for the different fishing areas.

Task 2: One licensed herring fishing vessel in each of regions 5 to 7 will set a stand-alone multi-mesh gillnet (or an alternate net of DFO choice to be determined at contract award) to determine the size composition of the herring schools and to obtain indices of age-classes entering the population.

Task 3: One licensed herring fishing vessel in each of regions 5 to 7 will set a small stand-alone multi-mesh benthic gillnet (or an alternate net of DFO choice to be determined at contract award) on the night of acoustic surveys to verify the presence of herring, if fish are observed on the echosounder.

1.4 Objectives of the Requirement

This project is aimed at enhancing knowledge of local spring herring populations and their relation to the global southern Gulf of St. Lawrence herring stock, and to develop spawning-bed specific indices of biomass and relative fishing mortalities for stock assessment purposes. The data obtained from this survey will increase the spawning ground specific information and improve the assessment quality in terms of changes in selectivity over time, non-proportionality of fishery-dependent indices and lack of local stock indices. To achieve this goal, this project will produce two sets of indices: the first will be based on local acoustic surveys conducted weekly following a statistical sampling design. This index will provide information on local abundance and spatio-temporal distribution of spring spawning herring. Short net sets in regions where fish are observed via the acoustic will confirm the presence of herring. The second will be based on multi-mesh experimental nets (or an alternate net of DFO choice to be determined at contract award), which will inform relative changes in fishery selectivity over time and provide information on the demographic composition of herring. A similar survey has improved the fall spawning herring assessment quality in these regards.