SON_Ropeless_System.pdf

Statement of Need

Buoyless/Ropeless Systems

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1. BACKGROUND

The primary purpose of the ESA is to protect and recover imperiled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend. The North Atlantic right whale is one of the world’s most endangered large whale species, with only an estimated 350 remaining. The leading causes of known mortality for North Atlantic right whales are entanglement in fishing gear and vessel strikes.

NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) and our partners are dedicated to conserving and rebuilding the North Atlantic right whale population. We use a variety of innovative techniques to study, protect, and rescue these endangered whales. We believe that working with engineers and fishermen to test and evaluate new technologies will help engage our partners as we develop solutions to reduce the risk of entanglements.

The NEFSC Gear Research Team has been collaborating with commercial fishermen to evaluate technologies intended to minimize the potential for marine mammal interactions in pot and trap fisheries. Our goal is to provide fishermen technology for testing and to attain their input concerning reliability, operational usability, safety, and performance.

The NEFSC is seeking to purchase buoyless/ropeless solutions for pot and trap fishing gear.

We are requesting quotes for existing technology that we can supply to fishermen to test for operational reliability, and to familiarize fishermen who can report on concerns or successes.

We are looking to purchase multiple different system types that can be made available to fishermen with the understanding that certain technologies may be suited better for different environments and depths.

2. REQUIREMENTS

Contractor shall provide all materials, equipment, labor (repairs/warranty), supervision and transportation for the delivery of commercial on-demand buoyless/ropeless systems, controllers, and transducers. The Government intends to award up to a maximum of ten (10) contracts. We anticipate that different technologies may be utilized to solve this problem such as inflation bags and acoustic releases holding a float and rope at the bottom.

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SYSTEMS (Deck and Release)

DECK SYSTEMS (controller, transducer, and interface (e.g., tablet):

The deck system shall be capable of triggering the underwater acoustic release system and should be capable of controlling and storing acoustic release codes, have gear location marking capability, and data storage of release locations with a time/date stamp and be powered by a 12v power supply or have a battery life of 72 hours run time. Each deck system shall have a touch interface through a supplied screen or a commercially available tablet. Either shall be provided by the awardee. Additionally, the deck system must include a transducer that is capable of communicating with and releasing the underwater acoustic release systems from the controller near the surface from 4 - 200fm in temperatures from 0-30C SST. Portable and boat mounted options are desirable.

UNDERWATER ACOUSTIC RELEASE SYSTEMS:

The Underwater acoustic release systems are expected to be the first unit in a trawl (series) of pots/traps and will be tied to the remaining pots/traps within the fishing operation. These systems must include all ancillary equipment and software that will trigger the release of their system that will allow the fishermen to retrieve their gear.

These systems must have:

1. Been previously tested in the commercial pot or trap fishery.

2. Be capable of operating in waters ranging from 0-30C SST.

3. When set and fishing, provide no vertical line in the water that could entangle a whale.

4. Units must have a mechanism (e.g., acoustic release) to trigger the systems so the gear can be retrieved.

5. Must be designed so the system can be reset and redeployed while at sea.

6. Unit must be of a size suitable for use on commercial fishing vessels where deck space and time may be limited. Unit should be similar in size and construction to a commercial lobster trap.

7. Units must be constructed of materials that will withstand constant submersion in salt water, weigh less than 250 lbs., and withstand a drop from 10 feet.

SYSTEM MAINTENANCE:

The systems shall have a defined warranty period that covers routine maintenance, defective work, materials and equipment, and a cost for maintenance and repairs past the warranty period.

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OPTIONAL COMPONENTS:

1. Dash mounted/ chart plotter controller units

2. Earthranger integration:

EarthRanger is a program of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) which has collaborated with NOAA to create a prototype system for the marking, sharing and aggregating of location data associated with on-demand fishing gear to avoid gear conflict. Use of this platform during the closures ensures that systems from different on-demand gear manufacturers will be visible at the appropriate level of permission to other fishermen (both fixed and mobile), gear researchers, and fishery managers. Bids will be considered for companies incurring software development costs to integrate their existing data pipelines to be able to send data via API to EarthRanger and/or to make modifications to their workflows to accommodate the shared needs of the community in making all of the gear positions conform to allow for interoperability.

3. DELIVERY REQUIREMENTS

Vendors shall provide their system(s) and all components to Henry Milliken at the address below no later than 90 days after award.

Henry Milliken

NOAA/NMFS/NEFSC

166 Water Street Woods Hole, MA 02543 https://www.earthranger.com/ https://allenai.org/