Vessel Charter for Survey of Jack Mackerel Egg and Adult - Western Tasmania and Victoria January 2017

Egg survey vessel

The chartered vessel must be able to safely and efficiently deploy and retrieve a large (3 m long) plankton net to depths of approximately 250 metres, accommodate 3-4 scientists and provide stowage space for preserved plankton samples.

The vessel and crew should be capable of operating safely in offshore waters (to depths 250 m) and undertake continuous (24 hour) sampling. Experience conducting scientific surveys is highly desirable.

Adult trawl vessel

The chartered vessel must be able to tow a high lift bottom trawl net at ~4 knots in depths of up to ~250 m, accommodate two scientists and provide space for fish dissections and the stowage of preserved (10% formalin) and chilled/frozen samples.

The chartered vessel must provide trawl gear that can be modified to operate as a high-lift bottom fish trawl with a head rope floated ~4.0 m off the bottom. The vessel should be equipped with an electronic headrope monitor. A small mesh cod-end will be provided.

Surveys will be conducted in January 2017 in shelf waters between western Tasmania and Victoria, including Bass Strait. Approximately 20-40, two hour trawls are to be conducted across the survey area.