CEFAS26-73 Solent Bass Survey Vessel Charter

The Solent Bass Survey is a long-running monitoring program carried out by Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) to collect abundance and growth information of juvenile European sea bass populations in the Solent. The survey is important because the data feeds into the sea bass stock assessment, and provides key ecological understanding that help support sustainable fisheries management and future bass conservation.

Vessel Specification Requirement:

The Solent Bass Survey requires a vessel that meets the following requirements:

• Vessel is located within the Portsmouth area
• Correct licenses, insurance (H&M and P&I) and safety provisions to enable 5 individuals to work onboard (2 crew, 3 scientists)
• Crew must have experience of working with and deploying a bass trawl similar to that used to complete this survey detailed in the net specifications below
• Vessel must be able to deploy the bass trawl net
• Vessel must be able to provide a sheltered rear deck
• Crew must have experience fishing within the identified survey area (See Appendix I)
• Vessel must be able to operate in shallow water to enable access to all sampling stations (The depth profiles of the sites range between 10-30 feet of water).

Trawl net specifications;

The sampling gear consists of a survey trawl based on a local pattern of high headline bass trawl with a rubber bobbin footrope. Mesh size is 70 mm diagonally stretched mesh and the codend is fitted with a 4 mm mesh, knotless ‘Frymer’ liner. Panels of heavier duty mesh (‘chafers’) offer some protection to the codend and are fitted as standard. The trawl has a 9 m headline and 12 m footrope. (See Appendix II)

Special provisions relating to the safety of taking scientists to sea

The tender evaluation procedure will seek to ensure that the vessel and crew can safeguard the health, safety and wellbeing of project staff. Project staff from Cefas will be under instructions to ensure that all standard safety at sea items and procedures are adequate before each sailing. Contract award will be subject to physical inspection/survey of the proposed vessel and successful sign-off of the Vessel Safety Assessment & Inspections Document VSAID document which will be facilitated by Cefas staff.

It is a requirement of the MCA for the skipper to give an explanation to project staff of the vessel risk assessment and health and safety regime, including the stowage and use of life saving appliances, the procedures in an emergency, and escape routes before embarking on each voyage. Safety briefings shall be carried out prior to departure (e.g. procedures in event of fire, medical emergency, abandon ship etc.).