Boat Skipper and vessel maintenance 2023-2027

Tender description

More than 70% of the Welsh coastline is designated due to its high conservation and aesthetic value. The largest part of this designated site resource is marine and requires boat access. Monitoring in the marine environment is labour intensive and requires specialist equipment that takes considerable time to keep in good running order. To optimise time spent in the field, NRW’s Marine Environmental Assessment and Reporting Team need to employ a Contractor to skipper and maintain a boat and associated equipment. This will allow NRW staff to concentrate their efforts on executing the actual monitoring work such as diving survey, remote video camera surveys, using acoustic techniques and conducting marine mammal surveys. The field commitments to monitoring in the marine SACs in Wales has continued to increase with the size of the network This work is supported by a number of NRW assets, including the survey vessel ‘Pedryn’, and other contracted-in vessels. Typically, she is used for approximately 50 to 80 days or more per annum with survey work occurring predominantly over the summer period.