JNCC Offshore Deepwater Survey for Existing and Proposed MPAs to the West of Scotland

Background to JNCC

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) is the statutory adviser to the UK Government and devolved administrations on UK and international nature conservation. Its work contributes to maintaining and enriching biological diversity, conserving geological features and sustaining natural systems.

Background to Project

JNCC wish to commission a deepwater survey in the summer of 2013 to gather seabed data/evidence from a number of deepwater areas to the west of Scotland.  There are four areas of interest; the first three are Scottish Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area (MPA) proposals whilst the last area is a candidate Special Area of Conservation (cSAC). The four areas are shown in Figure 1 and are as follows:

• SW Sula Sgeir & Hebridean Slope Scottish Nature Conservation  MPA proposal
• Geike Slide and Hebridean Slope Scottish Nature Conservation  MPA proposal
• The Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace Seamount Scottish Nature Conservation  MPA proposal
• East Rockall Bank cSAC

The required evidence within these four areas will be acquired through a number of survey methodologies, including but not limited to acoustic methods (for example, deepwater multibeam and sidescan sonar), benthic sampling (box cores/grabs) and high resolution seabed imagery (video and stills).

Download

• Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) and
• Supporting annex

Essential dates for this procurement are listed in the table below.

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