Funded Research: Restore Prince William Sound Herring!

The US Fish and Wildlife Service, Headquarters Region 7 intends to award a single source Cooperative Agreement to the Prince William Sound Science Center (PWSSC) in Cordova, Alaska, in Accordance with 505 DM 2.14 Section B(2) Continuation and (4) Unique Qualification. This notice is not a request for proposals and the Government does not intend to accept proposals. Award will be made 10 days after this notice. PURPOSE:This research will examine the predation pressure on juvenile Pacific herring (Chupea pallasi) in Prince William Sound, Alaska.

Predation pressure is one of five potential factors that have limited the recovery of the Prince William Sound herring population, which has never recovered from the effects of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. This cooperative research project between the Service and the Prince William Sound Science Center was selected during a public process and funded by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council as one part of an integrated herring program designed to help the Council determine what, if anything, can be done to successfully recover the Pacific herring population in Prince William Sound.OBJECTIVE:The objective of this agreement is to provide support and assistance to the Prince William Sound Science Center to carry out the work they proposed in conjunction with FWS researchers in project 10100132-H, which was selected for funding by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council at its August 31, 2009 public meeting in Anchorage, Alaska. The project is titled: Prince William Sound Herring Survey: Seasonal and Interannual Trends in Seabird Predation on Juvenile Herring. Additional information about the project can be found at: http://www.evostc.state.ak.us/Projects/ProjectInfo.cfm?project_id=2154BACKGROUNDThe Prince William Sound population of Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi) has not recovered from the effects of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Reasons for the population collapse and failure to recover remain largely unknown. The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council convened a herring workshop in 2006, comprised of representatives from the science community, commercial and subsistence fishers and natural resource managers. A steering committee was formed and tasked with developing an Integrated Herring Restoration Program. The main goal of the program is to determine what, if anything, can be done to successfully recover Pacific herring in Prince William Sound from the effects of the spill.

The program is designed to address the factors limiting the recovery of herring, identify and evaluate potential recovery options, and recommend a course of action for achieving restoration. An Invitation for Proposals to address these components was issued to the public on February 18, 2009.The work under this Agreement is one of a coordinated and interrelated set of ten projects from multiple organizations that were selected for funding by the Council, in response to the Invitation for Proposals. The work under this Agreement will examine the predation pressure on juvenile Pacific herring, which may be an important factor in limiting the recovery of the Prince William Sound herring population. Juvenile herring are heavily predated by multiple species of seabirds, including six species initially injured by the oil spill and three species that have not yet recovered.

This study will investigate the spatial and temporal abundance of seabird predators in and around juvenile herring schools, and will provide estimates of juvenile herring consumption by the most important seabird predators. In particular, the study will improve understanding of the role of seabird predation on herring recruitment as well as helping to identify sites that would be good candidates for herring supplementation efforts. The results of this study will be integrated with those from the other 9 herring survey projects being funded by the Council. REASON FOR SINGLE SOURCE:(1) Continuation – The activity which this agreement will support is necessary to the continuation of an activity presently being funded, and for which competition would have a significant adverse effect on the continuity or completion of the activity.

The work described in this Agreement for EVOS project 10100132-H, continues cooperative work over the past 3 years being done by the Service and the Prince William Sound Science Center under EVOS projects 070814, 080814 and 090814, “Seabird predation on Juvenile Herring in Prince William Sound”. Continuity of methodology, analyses, and inclusion of previous data collected and held by the PWSSC is necessary to the successful completion of this research.(2) Unique Qualifications – The applicant is uniquely qualified to perform the activity based upon a variety of demonstrable factors such as location, property ownership, voluntary support capacity, cost-sharing ability, if applicable, technical expertise, or other such unique qualifications. This project is one of a suite of interrelated herring projects at the PWSSC and is an integral part of the PWSSC’s ongoing herring research program. Cost-sharing of the boats and observers which are part of other ongoing herring projects at the PWSSC is vital to carrying out this work.

The technical expertise and support capacity developed during existing research on seabird predation in Prince William Sound is essential as a basis for this new Agreement. This project has already competed under a public Invitation for Proposals, issued by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council on Feb. 18, 2009, and selected for funding by the Council on August 31, 2009. The Invitation was posted on the FedBizOpps.gov website on Feb.

20, 2009. The applicant is supplying the technical expertise to determine if seabird predation is limiting the recovery of Prince William Sound herring, and this component will be integrated with 9 other herring survey projects being funded by the Council to determine if the population can be restored. PWSSC meets other criteria which preclude competition for this cooperative agreement, including location, technical expertise, support capacity and cost-sharing ability.