The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) seeks a highly-qualified contractor to update descriptions of Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) for federally managed Gulf of Mexico finfish and shrimp species. The contractor will be tasked specifically with identifying, synthesizing, and developing metadata for spatial habitat data layers in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Council is required by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to identify and describe EFH for all federally managed species. Essential Fish Habitat is defined in the MSA as “those waters and substrates necessary to fish for spawning, breeding, feeding, or growth to maturity.” The Council is interested in updating the information used to identify and describe EFH for its managed finfish and shrimp species. To accomplish this goal, a thorough and comprehensive examination of available and contemporary spatial habitat data layers for the Gulf of Mexico is required. The broader objectives of this work are to establish the foundational knowledge to continue work on the Council’s EFH Generic Amendment, provide the Council with the best available EFH description information for future management action, and inform an associate EFH decision webtool.

This is a 14-month project and a maximum $85,000 is available to fund the work.

The full request for proposals can be found at: https://gulfcouncil.org/about/request-for-proposals/.

Proposals Submission Deadline: 11:59 PM, EST on March 24, 2023

Contact Dr. Carrie Simmons at carrie.simmons@gulfcouncil.org with any questions.