Marine Mammal and Ornithology Monitoring Services

Tender description

Foreshore lease 2017/03918 for the Galway Bay Marine and Renewable Energy Test Site was granted to the Marine Institute by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government in December 2017. Under the terms of the lease the Marine Institute as the Lessee was obliged to develop a comprehensive Environmental Monitoring Plan (EMP) prior to the installation of any infrastructure or the deployment of any marine renewable energy test devices on the site. The EMP has been approved by the consenting authority and is included as Appendix 4 for reference. At present a requirement exists for marine mammal and ornithological monitoring, analyses and reporting services for the implementation of the EMP. The aims and objectives of the marine mammal and ornithological monitoring programme are to: • Provide species lists for bird and marine mammal species that occur at and in the general vicinity of the test site and at a control site, • Provide data on the seasonal occurrence of these species at both sites, • Provide density and abundance data of these species at both sites, • Develop collision risk analyses for both groups of species at the test site • Improve the understanding of species. interactions with offshore marine energy devices that are planned to be deployed at the site with a view to developing any possible mitigation measures and • Allow the comparison of the pre-and post-deployment data to indicate any changes in numbers of species, numbers of individuals and species’ behaviour in the two data sets. For efficient and effective coordination of the onshore and offshore marine mammal and ornithological surveys the tender is being issued as a single Lot.