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Notice of Intent to solicit a single source � Fish and Macroinvertebrate (Nekton) Monitoring (St. Johns River)

Description

NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLICIT A SINGLE SOURCE The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Jacksonville District intends to solicit and contract with Fish & Wildlife Research Institute (CAGE 3UWN3), of St. Petersburg, FL, on a sole-source basis, RFO 6.103-1(b), to conduct Nekton monitoring within selected zones of the Lower St. Johns River (LSJR) as well as selected tributaries in Northeast Florida. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Fish and Wildlife Research Institute�s (FWRI) Fisheries-Independent Monitoring (FIM) program is a long-term program designed to monitor the relative abundance of fishery resources in Florida�s major estuarine, coastal, and reef systems. FWRI works for the State of Florida. The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code assigned to this procurement is 541620, Environmental Consulting Services. The USACE, in cooperation with the Jacksonville Port Authority (JaxPort), conducted a comprehensive economic, engineering, and environmental study to examine the effects of increasing the depth of the existing Federally maintained channel in the LSJR from the current depth of 40-feet to a maximum depth of 47-feet between the mouth, at Mayport Florida, and river mile 13. Construction of the deepening was completed in 2022. Channel deepening allows for the access of larger vessels (Panamax and New Panamax classes) to deliver cargo to existing JaxPort terminals around Blount Island. As part of this evaluation, computer modeling scenarios have been completed on the potential effects that the channel deepening might have on water quality, circulation patterns, salinity gradients, and a variety of ecological components (wetland vegetation, SAV, benthos, plankton, and nekton) in the LSJR. Over 100 nekton species have been documented as using the estuarine portion of the LSJR and many of these species represent important commercial and recreational fisheries (i.e., Blue Crab, White Shrimp, and Red Drum). Two specific areas in need of consideration with respect to nekton are: 1) potential effects of salinity changes on the spawning success, recruitment, and population dynamics of important recreational, commercial, and forage nekton and, 2) potential effects of salinity changes on critical nekton habitat within the LSJR estuary. Within the estuary, channel deepening has the potential to affect salinity and water quality gradients, most likely by shifting distributions in these gradients within the estuary. These shifts may affect spawning and nursery habitats and ultimately influence reproductive and recruitment success of estuarine-dependent nekton. Of particular concern, are the tributaries and coves located between river kilometers (km) 14 and 48 and the estuarine portion upstream of Julington Creek (river km 64 � 134). These tributaries between river kilometers 14 and 48 (Trout, Arlington, and Ortega rivers) and the estuarine section upstream of Julington Creek are highly influenced by f…