Spring Cisco Project

NOTICE OF PROPOSED PROCUREMENT (NPP)

Solicitation #: FP802-130147 Closing Date: September 17, 2013 Time: 11:00am [Ottawa Time]

This requirement is for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Title: SPRING CISCO PROJECT

Spring Cisco Project Methodological development and abundance index assessment through hydroacoustic surveys of the Spring Cisco and Rainbow Smelt

Background: The Spring Cisco was designated a species of special concern in 1992 but was reassessed as an endangered species in 2009 by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) and listed as a protected species under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). It received this status because the only population in Canada and the world (Lac des Écorces, in the Laurentian Mountains, in Quebec) had declined over the previous 15 years. A recovery strategy is currently being prepared and will soon be added to the Species at Risk Public Registry.

The introduction of competing and predatory species, notably the Rainbow Smelt, a species that was illegally introduced at the end of the 1990s in the Kiamika Reservoir and which has now colonized Lac des Écorces, has led to changes in predator-prey relations within the fish community. Given that the Rainbow Smelt's preferred habitat overlaps with that of the Cisco, both in the larval and adult stages, competitive and predatory interaction is predictable. Rainbow Smelt preying on Spring Cisco larvae in the deeper waters of Lac des Écorces seems to be having a severe impact on the population (MPO, 2010). The negative impact on Cisco populations brought about by the introduction of the Rainbow Smelt into small bodies of water has been well-documented internationally (refer to Rooney et Paterson, 2009). Its presence in Lac des Écorces seems to be the main threat to the recovery of the Spring Cisco. In 2010, Quebec's Ministère des Ressources naturelles initiated a program to control the Rainbow Smelt population in Lac des Écorces. The Cisco and Rainbow Smelt populations will have to be monitored to assess the program's effectiveness and the Cisco population's recovery.

The significant decline in Spring Cisco abundance prevents the use of a traditional abundance index, like gillnet catch per unit effort. This means that a less invasive method (no mortalities), like a hydroacoustic survey, is required. Lac des Écorces contains about 20 fish species, which complicates the differentiation of their hydroacoustic signature. The method developed might require calibration in another lake before validation in Lac des Écorces. Project objectives:

This tendering process targets the following two objectives: •Develop a method for a hydroacoustic survey of the Cisco and Rainbow Smelt populations; •Assess the size of the Spring Cisco and Rainbow Smelt populations in Lac des Écorces.

Ownership of Intellectual Property

Any data, results or products resulting from this funding shall be the property of the bidder. However, the bidder grants to Her Majesty in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, the non-exclusive right to use the data, results or products obtained under this service contract, to manage them, to produce derivatives from them, and to distribute them according to the Department’s legal rights.

Security Requirement

There are no security requirements associated with this contract.

Enquiries regarding this RFP requirement are to be submitted in writing to the following: Jianna-Lee Zomer Senior Contracting Officer Department of Fisheries and Oceans Station W088, 9th Floor, 200 Kent Street Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0E6 Tel: (613) 993-4484 Fax: (613) 991-1297 Email: jianna-lee.zomer@dfo-mpo.gc.ca