Contract Award Provision of Review of Marine Natura Communities

Tender description

The Contract has now been awarded to NUI Galway Between 2009 and 2011, the National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, in conjunction with the Marine Institute, commissioned a series of benthic surveys in marine Nature 2000 sites. The principal use of this dataset was to develop site-specific conservation objectives for marine Annex I habitats and wintering waterbirds in a suite of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas. Analysis of the benthic datasets was done on a site by site basis and no comparisons were made of community types between sites at the time. As the conservation objectives setting phase for these Natura 2000 sites comes to completion, it is now necessary to review the entire benthic dataset in order to identify common community types across the Natura 2000 network, standardise community type names and, as necessary, revise their descriptions.