Tender: South Rigg MCZ Monitoring Report and Feasibility Study – 2024 Offshore Seabed Survey

About

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) is seeking a supplier to prepare a structured monitoring report and feasibility assessment based on the 25 September–12 October 2024 offshore seabed survey of the South Rigg Marine Conservation Zone, conducted with the Agri Food and Biosciences Institute aboard R/V Corystes as part of the Marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (mNCEA) programme. The contractor will collate and describe survey outputs including seabed imagery, macrofaunal (infaunal) data and particle size data, summarise BRUV and eDNA findings from existing analysis reports (with no new reprocessing or interpretation beyond high-level description), document methods, assumptions and limitations, assess habitat extent and species distributions against existing maps, identify evidence gaps and provide practical recommendations for future monitoring, and contribute to JNCC’s evaluation of this trial approach to externally commissioned reporting. JNCC will supply the data, documentation and guidance after contract award; key delivery dates are a start-up meeting on 27 July 2026, draft report by 30 September 2026, revised draft by 17 December 2026 and a wash-up meeting on 28 January 2027.