Environmental services

Tender description

The Welsh Government is looking to procure a framework agreement for the provision of marine evidence consultancy and specialist services. The framework will relate mainly to the marine area but also includes some freshwater fishery aspects. Services to include biodiversity science, including intertidal and subtidal marine species (including mobile species, e.g. fish, marine mammals and birds) ecology and taxonomy. Marine ecosystem structure, functioning and resilience: status and trends; connectivity; sensitivity adaptability and vulnerability; pressures/impacts (e.g. fishing activity, aquaculture, underwater noise, non-native species), impacts (including cumulative impacts) and mitigation; enhancement and restoration. Assessing stocks of recreational, commercial and potential commercial value and those given protection as having wider conservation value under national or international legislation. Services to include: Water quality. Hydrodynamics. Geodiversity, including: geomorphology; sediment classification, contamination, budgets and transport and the compilation and analysis of side-scan and multibeam sonar data, including supporting data collection by the client’s fishery protection vessels. Land-sea interaction. Services will include: Marine planning. Marine licensing. Marine Protected Area (MPA) management. Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM). Integrated marine governance. Services to include: Ecosystem-based fisheries management, including regulating orders. Fisheries regulations. Marine and freshwater aquaculture, including several orders. Other resources such as bait, seaweed and aggregates. Socio-economic research will study human aspects associated with changes to the marine environment and policy. It will seek to understand links between marine space, human health and well-being. Services to cover: Water framework directive, or equivalent UK directive. Marine strategy framework directive, or equivalent UK directive. Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. The sustainable management of natural resources (as defined in the Environment (Wales) Act 2016).