At-Sea Observers for Snow Crab Survey

An annual snow crab survey is conducted on the Scotian shelf for the purposes of stock assessment. The snow crab fishery is one of the most valuable fisheries in Atlantic Canada and the Scotian Shelf component of this fishery is considered to be the most conservative and relies heavily on quality data from this survey to make informed management decisions.

The requirement for this contract is to provide up to three (3) DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada) certified at-sea observers. The Contractor is also required to provide data entry, data editing and data loading into the DFO ISDB database with all data created through the snow crab survey.

Top-quality data collection, entry, and editing is essential for this contract as the data is used as the basis for an assessment of a snow crab stock which high value and importance to the Maritimes Region. The security requirements assure that all data is handled in accordance with DFO security policy. The operation of this survey requires eight individuals, four crew members and four scientific staff. The scientific staff generally consists of a chief scientist, a DFO aquatic sciences technician as well as up to three (3) DFO certified at-sea observers. In exceptional circumstances, the balance of scientific staff may shift to 1-3 at-sea observers for short periods of time depending on operational requirements.

The at-sea observers are responsible for sorting of the catch caught by the trawl net at each survey station and providing biological measurements of the animals caught.