SOW Underwater Acoustic Work NO POC.docx

Statement of Work Sediment Sampling and Recovery and Deployment of Acoustic Receivers and Hydrophones and Temperature Recorders in Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary Summer 2021

A] GENERAL INFORMATION:

1] This Statement of Work contains the requirements for 2 iterations of retrieving and deploying acoustic receivers (16) and hydrophones (3) and temperature recorders (3) and collecting ~8 ounce sand samples

(16) throughout Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS) at 16 dive sites.

2] Any task related photos taken during this operation have copyrights to GRNMS. All persons who are identifiable in the photos must sign a “Likeness Form” to allow GRNMS to use these photos for scientific or outreach purposes. The attached form must be signed to allow use of photos with contractors.

3] Coordination of the work schedules will be the responsibility of the contractor to avoid any delays or disruptions in order to meet the performance period. The contractor shall provide all labor, materials, tools, and services required to complete the work except for the materials that are listed under the “Equipment and Materials Provided by GRNMS” section on this document.

4] Participating contractors will be required to complete a virtual training hosted by GRNMS staff on swapping out and handling the equipment. This training will be co-led by Savannah State University (SSU) partner to include training on sand sample collection. Total combined training will be approximately 1 hour long, hosted digitally on a Google Hangout or similar platform accessible to all participants. GRNMS staff will review equipment and station characteristics, how to handle the equipment and swap it out. The SSU partner will demonstrate sand sampling and storage. Upon completion of training, contractors will sign a completion of training form.

5] Deployment of equipment and samples should be completed in accordance with the training and guidance provided by GRNMS staff and the SSU partner. The contractor will not be held liable for any damage that our equipment sustains after the deployments and retrievals, however, if our equipment is misplaced, lost, or otherwise damaged during normal handling and transportation due to negligence, contractor may be held responsible for replacement of such equipment (i.e. cost to replace one hydrophone unit is $5,500).

6] This work will be covered under appropriate permits. GRNMS staff will provide copies of the permits and inform law enforcement of these activities.

7] Payment will be made to the contractor upon receipt of the proof of switching out all of the equipment.

8] Boat and diving operations will be performed in accordance with standard procedures and norms as determined by the contractors within the limitations of required certifications, training, and insurance.

9] COVID-19 STATEMENT: The effects on persons SCUBA diving after they have contracted or been exposed to COVID-19 are largely unknown to date. As with other serious viral pneumonias, it is suspected that persons affected by COVID-19 may require a period of recovery before returning to normal activities such as SCUBA diving. Your signature below also indicates that you, the contractors, understand the potential risks of SCUBA diving to persons affected by COVID-19 and have actively taken steps to minimize the potential risk by selection of divers who are not currently ill or tested positive for COVID-19, OR (after assessment by their physician) have confirmed that they are able to safely return to unrestricted, vigorous activity such as SCUBA diving.

10] HOLD HARMLESS STATEMENT: While performing this work, both boat crew and dive teams will handle government owned equipment such as hydrophones, tools needed to deploy the equipment to the seafloor, and SSU-owned equipment such as containers for sand sampling, and will come into contact with items such as buoyancy floats, rope, and bottom-mounted stanchions. You, the contractors, shall defend, indemnify and hold NOAA Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary, its officers, officials, employees and volunteers harmless from any and all claims, injuries, damages, losses or suits including attorney fees, arising out of or resulting from the acts, errors or omissions of the contractors in performance of this work, except for injuries and damages caused by the sole negligence of NOAA.

B] SPECIFIC WORK TASKS

There are 16 dive sites (Figure 1) that need to be visited twice (4-6 months apart) and the scientific equipment swapped. This scientific equipment includes three hydrophones, three temperature recorders and 16 acoustic receivers. Eight ounce sand/sediment samples will also be collected at each site, yielding 16 sand samples.

The hydrophones are Sound Trap ST500s and weigh about 4.3kg in air. Each is 350mm long by 100mm in diameter. The black microphone tips are secured to the top of the Sound Trap housings and need to be handled delicately. The hydrophones record sound underwater and on land. Please note that they will be recording sound, even while topside. The temperature recorders are HOBO TidbiT v2 Water Temperature Data Loggers and they are 3.0 × 4.1 × 1.7 cm circular disks, weighing 19.6g. As the name suggests, these record water temperature. The hydrophones are attached with zip ties to a metal stanchion on the ocean floor, and the temperature logger is attached with zip ties to the hydrophone (Figures 2 and 7).

The acoustic receivers are Vemco VR2Tx receivers and weigh about 1190g in air and are 308 mm long by 76mm in diameter. They are secured to a hollow braid line with zip ties. The hollow braid line is suspended in the water column with two mooring balls that float about 15 ft off the seafloor. The line is anchored to seafloor by an 80 lbs concrete base (Figure 3). These acoustic receivers detect pings from fish that have been tagged with Vemco Acoustic transmitters.

GRNMS has one spare hydrophone, one spare temperature recorder and four spare acoustic receivers that will be used to switch out the equipment underwater. We refer to these switches as “hot swaps”. The objective is to avoid gaps in our data collection and recording. The spare equipment allows for one hydrophone, one temperature recorder and four acoustic receivers to be swapped in one day. Between the dive days, the GRNMS staff will download the data and prepare the equipment for the next series of hot swaps. The GRNMS staff needs 24 hours to prepare the equipment for redeployment. The contractors will work with the GRNMS staff to coordinate the equipment drop offs and pickups. If the GR staff finds an issue with any equipment and prefers not to redeploy it, there may be adjustments.

Three dive sites are “Hydrophone Stations” and have three pieces of equipment to be hot swapped; a hydrophone, a temperature recorder and an acoustic receiver. The receiver bases are less than five feet away from the hydrophone stanchions (Figure 4). The remaining 13 sites are “Receiver Stations” and have only a single receiver to be swapped.

We estimate that swapping out the equipment will require at least four dive operation days, visiting four dive sites a day. This estimate of four dive days depends on timely locating each station topside, timely locating the equipment underwater, taking sediment samples, photos and measurements and swapping out the equipment. During the first three dive days, one Hydrophone Station (with three pieces of equipment) and three Receiver Stations (with one piece of equipment each) need to be visited. The following dive day(s) can be focused on visiting the receiver stations (keeping in mind that there are only four spare receivers).

GRNMS staff will provide the GPS coordinates, photographs of what the equipment looks like, past search notes and habitat maps that indicate where the equipment is in reference to the live bottom. If the equipment cannot be found, it may take additional dives and/or dive days. The sediment sampling will occur first at each station and is estimated to require 3 minutes to sample. Working on the hydrophone, temperature recorder and receiver at a Hydrophone Station will take approximately 25 minutes. These stations may require a second dive or a third diver. The bottom time for a receiver station includes about 3 minutes for the sediment sampling and 10 minutes for working on the receiver equipment. It is understood that a dive day may need to be cut short due to dive safety, weather and ocean conditions. GRNMS staff will be flexible with rescheduling.

In addition to swapping out the equipment, the contractors will be required to take photos of the process and record data on the datasheets. The contractor needs to provide the GRNMS staff with the photos by 12:00 noon, the next day. The photos need to be sorted and labeled by photographer, dive site and date. This allows the GRNMS staff to review the photos and offer corrections, if needed. It also allows for the appropriate credits to the photographer to be given.

1] Collect Underwater Sediment Samples Divers will collect one sediment sample from all 16 of the Hydrophone and Receiver Stations. Surface sediments will be collected using the lid of a glass jar to scoop sediments into a glass jar (Figure 5). The sediment samples should be taken no deeper than 1 inch into the sediment. Surface sediments should be collected with minimal bottom disturbance. To minimize disturbance, 1) divers should not kneel on the benthos to collect samples; 2) sediment samples should be taken first, prior to any other work. A researcher from Savannah State University will test these samples for microplastics.

2] Hydrophone Station Swaps At these three stations, the divers will descend to the dive site with a camera, tools, zip ties, a hydrophone, a receiver, a temperature recorder and sediment sampling containers. They will do the following:

a) Take one 8 oz sediment sample by scooping sand into containers.

b) Photo document the equipment as it appears prior to servicing and divers working on the equipment, and again after equipment has been replaced.

c) Replace the deployed hydrophone and temperature recorder with the new ones. This involves using medical shears to clip off the zip ties that are securing the hydrophone on a stanchion on the ocean floor. The deployed hydrophone needs to be replaced with the new one and secured with zip ties threaded through and around the metal stanchion (Figure 6). Before placing the new hydrophone onto the stanchion, a hacksaw blade needs to be used to clear the gap on the stanchion of biofouling. To switch out the temperature recorder, the small zip ties securing it to the hydrophone need to be clipped off and the deployed temperature recorder needs to be replaced with the new temperature recorder using zip ties.

d) Replace the deployed receiver with the new one at the same height in the line. This involves clipping the zip ties off the deployed receiver that are threaded through and around the hollow line. The deployed receiver should be replaced with the new receiver. Zip ties are used to secure the new receiver through and around the hollow line (Figure 8).

e) Use a paint scraper to scrape biofouling off of the mooring balls.

f) Record the equipment depth and deployment time.

3] Receiver Station Swaps At these thirteen stations, the divers will descend to the dive site with a receiver. They will do the following,

a) Take one 8 oz sediment sample by scooping sand into containers.

b) Photo document the equipment as it appears prior to servicing and divers working on the equipment, and again after equipment has been replaced.

c) Replace the deployed receiver with the new one at the same height in the line. This involves clipping the zip ties off the deployed receiver that are threaded through and around the hollow line. The deployed receiver should be replaced with the new receiver. Zip ties are used to secure the new receiver through and around the hollow line.

d) Use a paint scraper to scrape biofouling off of the mooring balls

e) Record the equipment depth and deployment time.

Upon return to the dock, GRNMS staff will coordinate with the contractor to pick up the equipment and the sediment samples that evening. The GRNMS staff will service the equipment (download data, refresh batteries, check function, etc.) and prepare it for deployment. As noted earlier, the GRNMS staff will prepare the equipment for redeployment within 24 hours. Again, the 16 stations will need to be visited twice, 4-6 months apart, conducting the described line items 1] - 3] two times.

Equipment and Materials Provided By GRNMS

· Coordinates of all of the dive sites

· Station search notes

· Maps of all of the dive sites indicating habitat types

· Pictures from previous deployments and retrievals

· Two five gallon buckets to store Hydrophones and Receivers

· One hydrophone, one temperature recorder and four receivers

· Clipboard with datasheets, instructions, equipment checklist and the signed permit(s)

· Large mesh bags to carry equipment with stainless steel double sidedclips

· Glass jars with lids for sediment sampling

· Medical shears to clip the zip ties

· Hacksaw blade

· Large and small zip ties

· Small ziplock baggies

· Painters scraper (to scrape off biofouling on the hydrophone stand and receiver mooring balls)

· Multiple pencils to be used on the provided waterproof paper

· Dive slate (to record the height of the equipments)

· Satellite phone (optional)

Equipment Provided by Contractor

· Boat capable to conduct dive operations and safely handle equipment to/from the boat and water.

· Mushroom anchor with line long enough for 70ft of water

· Dive gear

· Dive gloves (optional but encouraged)

· A dive reel to conduct circle searches

· Underwater camera

· Trash bag (for discarding the clipped ends of the zip ties and panty hose, wrapped around receivers and hydrophone to decrease biofouling)

C] IT SECURITY REQUIREMENTS

The Certification and Accreditation (C&A) requirements of 48 CFR 1352.239-73 do not apply, and a Security Accreditation Package is not required. The contractor will not have access to any government owned IT equipment or be furnished government privileged information.

D] PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance is one year from award.

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