Vessel charter to carry out trawl surveys for snow crab populations on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

Request to charter a vessel to carry out trawl surveys at up to a maximum of 355 predetermined stations to assess stock conditions and study the biological cycle of snow crab in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. The decision to add or eliminate the number of stations is to the discretion of the department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada requires of the Contractor to provide the following:

- Completing one trawl tow at each predetermined station according to the snow crab trawling protocol. Up to a maximum of 355 sampling stations will be predetermined and presented to the Contractor prior to the survey (or when renewing the contract) by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). DFO reserves the right toad or eliminate the number of stations according to their needs.

- The sampling will be done using a 20-meter Norway lobster trawl provided by DFO.

- The work at each station will only be considered complete when a trawl tow has been successfully done. A successful trawl tow is a five (5) minute tow with no tearing of the trawl, in which the trawl behaves normally, as observed by an independent acoustic system, regardless of the amount of crab caught. The DFO project leader on board will verify and confirm the success of each tow.

- If the first trawl tow at any given station is not completed, three other tows (called alternative tows) at predetermined positions could be performed to meet the requirements of a successful trawl tow as mentioned above. If all four tow attempts (the initial tow and the 3 alternative tows) are deemed incomplete at one given station, this station will be abandoned (see method payments for the definition of a worked station and payment associated with it).

- At-sea activities include trawling, biological measurements of captured snow crab of all sizes and other by-catch species (sorting, counting and total weight of by-catch species or species group) and oceanographic measurements with the use of a CTD (i.e. temperature, salinity, acidity, sediment) for each station. Additionally, for 100 predetermined stations, individual size measurements for by-catches species will also be collected.

- Personnel (one captain and at least four (4) crew members) must be qualified and experienced to operate a Norway lobster trawl and assist DFO scientific representatives. At least four (4) members of the crew must be available to assist the DFO representatives when measuring crab and when collecting biological and physical data for the entire duration of the survey.

- The scientific authority from DFO on board can decide to collect and conserve snow crabs, as well as other marine species for biological studies. The consumption of snow crab and all other species caught during the survey is prohibited.