NFFS71002102024 SOW-Service - juvenile cod survey-final.doc

Statement of Work (SOW) – Gulf of Alaska nearshore juvenile cod survey Background

NOAA - Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) needs to monitor changes in juvenile Pacific Cod abundance and provide information on the mechanisms that regulate demographic variability of age-0 Pacific Cod in the Gulf of Alaska. This work extends efforts of the Gulf of Alaska Regional Action Plan to provide the process-based understanding necessary to forecast effects of climate change on Pacific Cod recruitment, and will allow AFSC to provide early warnings of climate impacts on the stock. Our goal is to develop leading indicators of Pacific Cod recruitment by a relatively inexpensive survey to improve current stock assessment models and management. A survey of the Central and Western Gulf of Alaska nearshore of age-0 Pacific Cod in their nursery habitat is required. In total, this area represents ~1500 km of contiguous coastline in the GOA across ~80 potential seine locations.

Ontogenetic habitat associations make age-0 and age-1 Pacific cod relatively easy to study using low-cost gear. Juveniles cod are abundant in shallow coastal nursery areas and accessible by inexpensive beach seine and sampling gear, and in the GOA summer period, are the only effective means for assessing age-0 and age-1 abundance. AFSC biologists have successfully conducted small scale beach seine surveys for

Pacific cod (<5% of the GOA coastline), but these surveys are not designed to assess the entire GOA

Pacific cod stock. Designing appropriate juvenile surveys for stock assessment purposes requires more extensive sampling in the western GOA, which would also allow for comparisons with previous beach seine surveys in the central/eastern GOA and provide cross-GOA comparisons of juvenile abundance that will be helpful to the stock assessment.

An expanded age-0 juvenile survey (now in its 4th year) will allow NOAA-AFSC to continue filling key data gaps that contribute to uncertainty in the current stock assessment model (e.g., variable early life stage mortality). In the fall of 2021, these indices of age-0 annual abundance will be presented to the NOAA Plan team for direct implementation into future stock assessment models for GOA Pacific cod. Lastly, this survey will provide important climate impacts of fish demographics (growth, condition, abundance) that can aid in forecasting the health of future Pacific cod stocks on a 3-5 year horizon.

Objectives

Services requested under this contract are for both scientific expertise and vessel support for continuation of NOAA-supported nearshore juvenile fish surveys of Pacific cod in the Western Gulf of Alaska. Surveys are planned for July and August of 2021. These survey data are necessary for NOAA-AFSC management of the Pacific cod federal fishery which was closed in 2020 due to extremely low biomass. The core objectives for this contractare to: 1) collect fish catch data on juvenile stages of Pacific cod in the Gulf of Alaska for use in stock assessment and monitoring the potential recovery of the fishery, 2) collect and archive whole body samples of juvenile cod for subsequent analysis, 3) conduct dissections on fish for condition metrics (length-weight residuals) and archival of tissues for future analyses by NOAA (stomachs, otoliths, fin clips), 4) analyze and summarize environmental data (salinity and temperature) corresponding with the sites of fish collection and areas surveyed, and 5) synthesize data in the form of a vessel cruise report and poster suitable for presentation to NOAA scientists or at a scientific conference. An optional component of this contract is the live collection and shipment of 200 age-0 Pacific cod from Kodiak to the Newport, OR laboratory. All data collected in this contract will be provided to NOAA and used to improve stock assessment and understand how environmental factors (temperature, salinity, and diet/food web dynamics) underlie condition, abundance and possible spatial structure of Pacific cod stocks in the Gulf of Alaska.

Scope

The contractor is required to survey and collect juvenile cod using identical gear types at sites historically sampled in 2018-2020 cod surveys (details below, including contingency site locations). The contractor shall supply their own vessel, fuel, and at least one scientific person with expertise in beach seining, juvenile gadid fish ID, and dissection of small tissue parts. Contracted scientific staff must also possess sufficient statistical knowledge and scientific writing skill to allow the reporting of findings to NOAA and present results before a scientific audience. All survey gear, supplies and supporting materials to carry out the survey are to be provided by the contractor, with the exception of video survey gear (‘baited cameras’) that will be provided by NOAA prior to the survey (See Task Number components for specifics). The contractor is also required to provide samples/data to NOAA within six months of the completion of the survey in August 2021. Data include counts/weight/lengths of individual fish and metrics of fish ‘condition’ based on dried length-weight relationships of age- 0 Pacific cod. Additional data to be provided NOAA include all unprocessed video from baited camera sets, along with corresponding metadata and archival tissue samples (whole-body and partial) of juvenile Pacific cod (age-0 / age-1) collected from the survey (details below).

Tasks

Tasks below are for 2021. Note, Task 2 is an Option in each year of the contract (including 2021).

Milestones Projected Completion Date

*Year of completion to occur with the year of the awarded contract

**Year of completion to occur in the following year of the awarded contract

1. Survey Data Collection:

1.1 - Beach seine:

A minimum of 60 standardized beach seine sets shall be completed within 60 days (July 1 – Aug 31) across a minimum of 12 different bays spanning Kodiak Island, the Alaska Peninsula, the Shumagin Islands and as far west as Sanak Island. The contractor’s vessel must provide adequate freezer and storage space to retain at least 10 age-0 Pacific cod (frozen and ethanol) per site for future tissue analyses The vessel must also have the ability to deploy a small skiff to make routine beach landings at each sampling location. In addition, vessel support for conducting a CTD cast is required during each visit to each study bay to record temperature, salinity, and fluorescence profiles. Contracted scientific staff must be capable of conducting independent research activities on juvenile cod with knowledge of gear deployment, fish ID and fish sample archiving.

A list of priority site locations for sampling are found in Table 1. Based on previous surveys of the area, this would require the sampling of between 3 and 6 site locations/day once the vessel arrives at the embayment. The contractor can contact the NOAA PI and ask to sample alternative site locations if is the priority site is deemed unsafe (e.g., bad weather, bear activity) or logistically unsuitable (e.g., net snags, tidal currents). To allow direct comparison with data collected in previous years, the beach seine shall have the following characteristics. The dimensions shall be 36-m long, with wings 1 m deep at the ends expanding to 2.25 m in the middle. Mesh size shall be 13-mm within the wings with 5-mm delta mesh in the bag-end. The seine wings shall be attached to 25-m ropes for deployment and retrieval. Using a small boat (~4-6 m) supplied by the contractor, the seine requires parallel deployment to shore at a distance of ~ 25 m away and then retrieved to the shore making the effective sampling area ~ 900 m2 of bottom habitat (details in Laurel et al. 2007). A full description of the survey with data caveats and summary statistics (mean catch age-0 cod/haul/station) should be prepared in a report (up to 5 pages) and provided to NOAA following the survey.

All fish species shall be counted and measured for individual length (nearest mm TL) and weights (nearest 0.01 gram) following each seine set. Random subsample count estimates may be used in instances of high catch e.g., >150 fish up to 50 fish/haul. Note, all length and weight data can be done at the time of capture or subsequently in the laboratory using archived samples. If archived samples are used, the samples for lengths and weights must be preserved in either formalin or by freezing.

Table 1: A list of the optional seine site locations for juvenile cod survey in the Central and Western Gulf of Alaska.

Site

Bay lat long

Kod-1

Cook

57.775150 152.260570 Ugak-1

Ugak

57.469635 153.0019483

Ugak-2

Ugak

57.46022833 152.967335

Ugak-3

Ugak

57.45970167 152.9756367

Ugak-4

Ugak

57.45156833 152.999805

Ugak-5

Ugak

57.437505 153.04

Ugak-6

Ugak

57.44637167 153.0215417

Kilu-1

Kiliuda

57.32169167 152.9013617

Kilu-2

Kiliuda

57.32353333 152.8991633

Kilu-3

Kiliuda

57.32517 152.905825

Kilu-4

Kiliuda

57.32753667 152.8973683

Kilu-5

Kiliuda

57.32263167 152.9101467

Kilu-6

Kiliuda

57.32237833 152.9133417

Kilu-7

Kiliuda

57.322865 152.905305

Kai-1

Kaiugnak 57.06057 153.7086033

Kai-2

Kaiugnak 57.05702167 153.70467

Kai-3

Kaiugnak 57.05346333 153.6530617

Kai-4

Kaiugnak 57.07080167 153.6748717

Kai-5

Kaiugnak 57.07333 153.6708067

Kai-6

Kaiugnak 57.05591333 153.6500967

Jap-1

Japanese 56.953145 153.68475

Jap-2

Japanese 56.948185 153.6822933

Jap-3

Japanese 56.95109167 153.6848183

Jap-4

Japanese 56.95921333 153.689465

Jap-5

Japanese 56.968105 153.6819683

Jap-6

Japanese 56.95310667 153.6790183

RR-1

Rodman R.

56.88226833 154.2545067

RR-2

Rodman R.

56.90073833 154.25256

RR-3

Rodman R.

56.878765 154.2456733

RR-4

Rodman R.

56.87765833 154.2595133

RR-5

Rodman R.

56.88005667 154.24555

RR-6

Rodman R.

56.88024833 154.246295

AG-1

Agripina 57.10402167 156.476605

AG-2

Agripina 57.10454667 156.47124

AG-3

Agripina 57.10709167 156.456485

AG-4

Agripina 57.10937333 156.459905

AG-5

Agripina 57.10469333 156.458365

AG-6

Agripina 57.11315667 156.4796317

PW-1

Port Wrangell 57.04913167 156.6112833

PW-2

Port Wrangell 57.04791667 156.61203

PW-3

Port Wrangell 57.04655667 156.61303

PW-4

Port Wrangell 57.05887 156.6225367

Kuj-1

Kujulik

56.56221167 157.8721133

Kuj-2

Kujulik

56.56400167 157.8808833

Kuj-3

Kujulik

56.565775 157.8839233

Kuj-4

Kujulik

56.56970333 157.9238967

Mit-1

Mitrofania 55.978065 158.7152033

Mit-2

Mitrofania 55.98006 158.7137983

Mit-3

Mitrofania 55.97857833 158.7009117

Mit-4

Mitrofania 55.98201167 158.7117717

Mit-5

Mitrofania 55.98189667 158.6964867

Mit-6

Mitrofania 55.97886 158.704345

Fox-1

Fox

55.61624667 159.65294

Fox-2

Fox

55.611395 159.6414217

Fox-3

Fox

55.60935167 159.6373783

Fox-4

Fox

55.60835667 159.6302167

Fox-5

Fox

55.60778667 159.6322667

Sand-1

Sand Point 55.35234667 160.5274433

Sand-2

Sand Point 55.25350167 160.5240983

Sand-3

Sand Point 55.32035 160.520685

Fal-1

Falmouth Bay 55.06693167 160.1267333

Fal-2

Falmouth Bay 55.06391667 160.1164

Fal-3

Falmouth Bay 55.06841667 160.11245

Fal-4

Falmouth Bay 55.06935 160.1136667

Fal-5

Falmouth Bay 55.0691 160.1299333

Bar-1

Baralof Bay 55.23065167 160.5694367

Bar-2

Baralof Bay 55.22938333 160.5646333

Bar-3

Baralof Bay 55.22925 160.56225

Bar-4

Baralof Bay 55.22928333 160.5518167

Bar-5

Baralof Bay 55.23031667 160.54845

Bar-6

Baralof Bay 55.228 160.5597833

BB-1

Balboa Bay 55.58223333 160.593795

BB-2

Balboa Bay 55.57811333 160.59557

BB-3

Balboa Bay 55.57754667 160.5981417

BB-4

Balboa Bay 55.57757833 160.615145

BB-5

Balboa Bay 55.5798 160.61186

BB-6

Balboa Bay 55.58332833 160.6130267 Snk-1

Sanak Is 54.456395, 162.696630 Snk-2

Sanak Is

54.478143 162.816450 Snk-3

Sanak Is

54.413262 162.770788 Snk-4

Sanak Is

54.389680 162.649595 Snk-5

Sanak Is

54.397076 162.605993

Figure 1: Beach seine sampling locations. Numbers inside circles indicate the approximate total number of sets in each bay. See Table 1 for locations.

Vessel and partial scientific staff support for obtaining a minimum of 60 beach seine sets and 20 remote camera deployments across a minimum of 12 different bays on Kodiak Island, the Alaska Peninsula, the Shumagin Islands and as far west as Sanak Island. Sampling shall be restricted to 1 July to 31 August of 2021 to match the settlement period of juvenile cod in the region.

1.2 – Baited Camera Sampling (a minimum of 20 total sets):

A baited camera (gear and rigging provided by NOAA; Figure 2) is required to survey fish at the 10-meter isobath beyond the depth region of every other seine location (Table 1). The camera and the center of the bait bag shall be 30 - 40 cm off the bottom, and the camera angled down slightly (12-15°) so that the view includes the area around the bait and a section of seafloor immediately below the bag. Total seafloor surface area observed should be ~2.27 m2. The camera must resolve juvenile cod (30 – 400 mm TL) clearly to ~100 cm beyond the bait bag. The bait bag shall be loaded for each deployment with ~300 g of freshly thawed frozen whole Pacific sardine. The camera system must be lowered to the bottom in the desired location and the boat allowed to drift away to a distance of at least 10 m. The camera should be then allowed to record for 15 minutes prior to retrieval. Archived video data must be saved and provided to NOAA for analysis in the form of a series of individually compressed video files stored onto an external hard drive, e.g., SD card, thumb drive, etc.

Figure 2: Baited camera housing (left) and underwater view during deployment (right) of the NOAA baited camera gear to be supplied to the vendor for the survey.

1.3 – Environmental data Temperature (nearest 0.1 C) and salinity (nearest 0.003 PSU) estimates are required at each seine location using gear supplied by the contractor. In addition to these locations, high-resolution conductivity, temperature, and depth profiles at the mouth of each of the embayments (Table 2) shall be collected using CTD provided by the contractor. CTD gear should be capable of profiling water columns to 100 m at rate of 0.5 m s-1.

Table 2: Locations for CTD casts

Bay lat long

Cook Bay

57.775150 152.260570 Agripina

57.10715611 156.4671175

Balboa Bay 55.57976667 160.6045897

Baralof Bay 55.22948083 160.559395

Falmouth Bay 55.067543 160.1198367

Fox

55.61071867 159.638995

Japanese 56.95470141 153.6837714

Kaiugnak 57.06152628 153.6734576

Kiliuda

57.32401872 152.9040287

Mitrofania 55.97991417 158.7078947

Port Wrangell 57.05064708 156.6146333

Rodman R.

56.88373 154.2510564

Sand Point 55.30873278 160.5240756

Ugak

57.45495083 153.0005848

1.4 – Fish Samples and Processing The contractor is responsible for processing of fish samples with trained scientific staff knowledgeable of juvenile cod anatomy and ability to carry out tissue dissections involving preservation and data management for any subsequent analysis by NOAA or other researchers. In addition, the contractor is responsible for non-NOAA laboratory space and access to the required equipment to carry out such activities. These include -20°C freezer(s), stereo microscope, fish drying oven, chemical preservatives, a microbalance (to the nearest 0.0001 gram), vials, and other routine tools/supplies used in small fish dissections.

•Fin clips: 10 fin clips from individual age-0 Pacific cod at each seine location must be preserved (ethanol or ‘RNA later’) and stored in corresponding labeled vials provided by the contractor. All vials must be labeled with information that can be linked to the site location (latitude/longitude) and date/time of capture (nearest minute).

•Fish condition: The contractor is responsible for measuring ‘Fulton’s K’ and HSI measurements of fish condition for each field collected juvenile cod (up to 20/bay) based on liver and eviscerated dried body weight. Full description of condition metrics are found in Grant and Brown (1999).

•Fish stomachs: The contractor is responsible for removing and preserving stomachs of up to 10 fish/bay. Samples must be preserved (formalin) and stored in jars with labels indicating the site location (latitude/longitude) and date/time of capture (nearest minute).

•Fish otoliths: The contractor is responsible for removing and preserving otoliths of up to 10 fish/bay. Samples are to be preserved dry in Eppendorf tubes (or equivalent small vial) supplied by the contractor with labels indicating the site location (latitude/longitude) and date/time of capture (nearest minute).

•Whole fish: All remaining age-0 Pacific cod at each seine location (up to 20) must be preserved (frozen, -20C) and stored in bags (up to 10 fish/bag/bay) with labels indicating the site location (latitude/longitude) and date/time of capture (nearest minute).

2. Live fish collections/shipment from Kodiak As an optional component, we are asking for an additional 16 sites to be surveyed by beach seine in the Kodiak region under the Task 1. These additional sites constitute a separate survey that has been conducted annually by Government scientists, but may not be possible in each year due to logistical limitations. This optional component must be exercised by September 30 to correspond with age-0 cod availability to beach seine gear in the nearshore. Site locations (lat, longs) are found in Table 3 below. For each survey location, we request identical corresponding environmental and fish data described under Task 1.1, fish data described under Task 1.3, and frozen sample data described under Task 1.4. Additional age-0 Pacific cod collected at these sites (up to 200 total) are to be transported alive to the nearby Kodiak NOAA laboratory for holding and future shipment to a NOAA experimental facility in Newport, OR. Supplies and shipping costs for live shipments of fish will be covered by NOAA, but the contractor must transport the live fish to the Kodiak Laboratory and assist on-site Government employees (to be identified by the NOAA Investigator) in loading the fish into containers for shipping.

3. Survey Cruise Report

1. Sampling Location Information: latitude, longitude, date/time of capture (nearest minute), number of sets at each station, figures indicating geographic sampling locations.

2. Fish Catch Statistics: mean fish per set by species, length frequency histograms of age-0 cod

3. Sample Metadata: Information on other samples taken during the cruise (fin clips, stomachs, etc).

4. Data Delivery to NOAA

4.1 Fish Data (field counts and fish size)

Beach seine survey of fish counts and lengths of fish collected in Task 1.1

4.2 Baited camera video data

Video Data collected in Task 1.2

4.3 Environmental Data

Depth, temperature data collected in Task 1.3, including CTD data

4.4 Whole fish and tissue samples and associated data

Fish length, weight, condition, otoliths, and stomach samples of fish collected in Task 1.1 using protocols outlines in Task 1.4.

Data Delivery Schedule

*Year of completion to occur with the year of the awarded contract **Year of completion to occur in the following year of the awarded contract

· All digital data products (Tasks 4.1, 4.2, 4.3) shall be delivered to the lead NOAA AFSC investigator:

Ben Laurel

Hatfield Marine Science Center

Fisheries Behavioral Ecology

2030 SE Marine Science Dr

Newport, OR 97365 ben,laurel@noaa.gov

(541) 867-0197

5. Scientific reporting (poster presentation) The contractor is responsible for producing a research poster summarizing information or research findings suitable for a regional fisheries scientific conference. The poster should be a mixture of brief text mixed with tables, graphs, pictures, and other presentation formats. Word count should be limited to 800 words and include graphics of data summarizing findings from each annual survey. The contractor should include acknowledgments, their name, and contractor affiliation (if applicable). The contractor is responsible for presenting the poster to NOAA scientists digitally (e.g., .pdf over video conferencing) upon delivery of the poster. Alternatively, the poster can also be presented in person to NOAA or at a scientific fisheries conference (e.g., Alaska Marine Science Symposium) with all travel being covered by the contractor.

Government-Furnished Property, Material, Equipment, or Information (GFP, GFM, GFE, or GFI)

Baited camera system

IT Requirements

This order will not require assignment of a user account or access to the DOC data systems. This contractor will not have access to or use Government hardware, application software, system software or sensitive data. This service will not be performed on federal government property. IT security consideration and controls will be put in place before commencement of service.

Security

N/A

Travel

No government-supported travel is anticipated.

Special Material Requirements

As detailed above - Vessel, skiff, scientific data collection equipment 36-meter demersal beach seine, CTD, handheld temperature/salinity probe, laptop computer, formalin, ethanol, at-sea freezer storage to accommodate all the samples indicated under 1.4.

Place of Performance

Performance will occur aboard the contractor’s chartered vessel and dry lab area operating in listed locations.

Period of Performance

Core year: The Period of Performance dates for the core year of this contract is Date of Award – April 1, 2022. The survey portion of the work for all indicated sampling locations must be completed by August 31, 2021 to ensure comparability to previous surveys. The Cruise report is due on September 30, 2021. Data delivery tasks are due on October 31, 2021 (tasks 4.1, 4.2, 4.3), March 1, 2022 (Task 4.4) and March 31, 2022 (Task 5) as detailed above.

Core year (optional live fish collection/shipment component): The Period of Performance dates for the optional live fish component of the core year of this contract is June 15, 2021– March 31, 2022.

IT Requirements

This order will not require assignment of a user account and access to the DOC data systems. This contractor will not have access to nor use Government hardware, application software, system software or sensitive data. This service will not be performed on federal government property. IT security consideration and controls will be put in place before commencement of service.

References:

Grant, SM and Brown, JA (1999). Variation in condition of coastal Newfoundland 0-group Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua): field and laboratory studies using simple condition indices. Marine Biology 133:611-620.

Laurel BJ, Cote, D, Gregory RS, Rogers L., Knutsen H, and Olsen EM (2016). Recruitment signals in juvenile cod surveys depend on thermal growth conditions. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 74(4): 1-13

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