Giinuu / Sea Cucumber Survey Services – Haida Gwaii

Giinuu / Sea Cucumber Survey Services – Haida GwaiiSCOPEObjective:A contract is needed to provide Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the Haida Fisheries Program (HFP) with a vessel, to support the deliverables in the Haida GayGahlda “Changing Tides” Reconciliation Framework Agreement (RFA), signed August 13, 2021 between Council of the Haida Nation, Canada and British Columbia. The GayGahlda RFA deliverables include the collaborative development of a Giinuu/sea cucumber (Apostichopus californicus) stock assessment, which requires SCUBA dive surveys to collect giinuu/sea cucumber size and abundance data.The work will be conducted in remote locations around Haida Gwaii, in Pacific Fishery Management Areas (PFMAs) 1 and 2, and requires a vessel to provide transportation, sleeping accommodations, meals, dry workspace for data management, wet workspace for processing giinuu/sea cucumber biosamples and equipment storage.All survey operations will begin and end either in Nanaimo or a nearby east Vancouver Island port, with Haida Fisheries Program (HFP) staff likely joining the surveys from the Village of Daajings Giids (formerly Village of Queen Charlotte), Haida Gwaii, British Columbia.The intent is to establish a contract for the duration of the project, from contract award through to March 31, 2023, with 2, one year option periods so that the contractor can provide services on an ‘as and when required’ basis. The inclusion of estimated days per year in the cost proposal is not a commitment by DFO. The actual start and end dates of each survey will be mutually agreed upon by DFO, HFP and the contractor.