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ITT: Delivery of an Ecological Risk Assessment of the Southwest Mixed Fishery: February 2020

INVITATION TO TENDER

Delivery of an Ecological Risk Assessment of the Southwest Mixed Fishery

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Part A: About Seafish

1. Seafish (the UK Sea Fish Industry Authority) is a UK non-departmental public body set up by the Fisheries Act 1981 and sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). We are industry-led and governed by an independent Board, as well as being accountable to the four UK Fisheries Administrations who, in turn, answer to their respective parliament or assembly for our overall performance. Seafish is funded by a levy on the first sale of seafood products in the UK, including imported seafood.

2. The UK seafood supply chain is worth almost £10bn per year and the seafood processing sector has over 300 processing sites with 13,000 full-time jobs. Our mission is to show everybody that seafood is the way forward for business, communities, sustainability and health and wellbeing. Seafish’s remit includes the entire supply chain from fishermen and processors through to retailers, food service providers and consumers.

3. Seafish’ products, services, expertise and insights are used to support our stakeholders to raise standards, drive improvement and efficiencies across the entire UK seafood industry. Our mission shapes our work programme, to enable transformative industry-wide change by working to overcome the five key challenges that are acting as barriers to a thriving seafood sector:

a. Challenge 1: Changing political, economic and regulatory landscape as the UK exits the EU.

b. Challenge 2: Stagnant consumer demand and strong competition from other protein and non-protein foods.

c. Challenge 3: Competing with other food production sectors for access to a suitably skilled workforce, while addressing complex challenges around workplace safety.

d. Challenge 4: Sourcing sustainable seafood in an increasingly competitive global market, alongside continued public concern over practices that compromise human welfare and the environment.

e. Challenge 5: Successfully accessing the data, information and knowledge that will ensure the sector is equipped to understand and respond innovatively to a changing environment.

4. Our work is diverse and spans the seafood supply chain covering everything from fishing to eating seafood. For more information on Seafish and our diverse work programme please visit our website .

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Part B: About the project

Project Background:

5. In 2014 Seafish, in collaboration with the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (CEFAS) and others, completed a project to assess the ecological effects of commercial fishing in the Southwest of England (Seafish, 2014a; Cotter et al, 2015). The Southwest fishery is characterised by data limitation issues and as such most of the fish stocks are unlikely to be candidates for full ICES stock assessments or Marine Stewardship Council Certification. This situation remains unchanged. Further information on the outputs from the 2014 Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) can be found in Appendix 1.

6. However, increasingly the supply chain is looking for evidence of the sustainability credentials of these mixed fisheries given their economic importance and their iconic status. The primary species included in the Southwest mixed fishery are scallops, lemon sole, John Dory, sardines, sprat, monkfish, cuttlefish, dover sole, hake and haddock, turbot and brill.

7. An Ecological Risk Assessment of the Effects of Fisheries (ERAEF) framework can be used to assess the risks that fishing poses to a marine ecosystem, and build an understanding of the priorities for management within a data-limited fishery. An ERAEF focuses on the exploited (the commercial fish species targeted) and the non-exploited components (seabirds, marine mammals, and benthic habitats) of the ecosystem.

8. In the 2014 assessment it was recommended that the ERA should be repeated every five years to:

a. provide continuing information to the supply chain on ecological effects of the fisheries and data limited stocks; and

b. facilitate adaptive management. There have been a number of developments in assessment and management of these fisheries during the past five years, and this assessment will help to document the effects of these interventions.

9. Ultimately these assessments underpin the ecosystem approach to fisheries management which provides a mechanism to ensure effective management of data limited stocks.

Project overview:

10. Seafish, on behalf of the Southwest seafood industry (the client group), is seeking a lead contractor to oversee the revision and update of the 2014 ERA. Support for this project extends across the supply chain from the catching sector through to processing businesses, foodservice sector and retailers. The proposed project is also fully supported by the Seafish Southwest Advisory Committee.

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11. The appointed contractor will be responsible for engaging with the client group, convening and chairing an expert panel to deliberate on the ERA and the production of a final report with supporting recommendations. The 2014 assessment process consisted of four stages:

a. Stage 1: Identify and define the fisheries and ecosystem. The previous ERA included fisheries prosecuted by UK vessels operating out of Southwest ports in ICES divisions 7e,f,g,h and their effects on the marine ecosystem.

b. Stage 2: Establish the principles, goals and objectives (such as management targets) that will underpin the assessment of the fisheries’ effects on the wider ecosystem.

c. Stage 3: Using the Ecological Risk Screening (ERS) method, which is focused on Scale Intensity and Consequence Analysis (SICA), the effect of fishing on the agreed components of the ecosystem (both exploited and unexploited) were assessed in relation to the principles and goals and objectives agreed in Stage 2 to estimate a ‘Relative Impact Score’ (RIS). This methodology is outlined in Seafish, (2014a) and Cotter et al, (2015). Essentially, this process is a semi-quantitative assessment approach that considers the effects of fishing on all ecological components of a system and helps to identify and prioritise where those effects require more detailed analysis and/or possible management intervention. This stage of the project was undertaken by an expert panel.

d. Stage 4: Results from the expert panel workshop were written up including tabulations of the Relative Impact Scores of the exploited and non-exploited components of the ecosystem, and a list of priority actions was established.

12. Stages 1 and 2 were led by the ‘Client Group’. Stages 3 and 4 were delivered via an ‘Expert Panel’ during a two day workshop, supported by expert advisors and the relevant technical information (Seafish, 2014b).

13. Seafish anticipates that a similar process will be followed in 2020, using the results from the 2014 ERA as a baseline. Seafish expects that the 2020 update will also consider the changes in the ‘Relative Impact Scores’ and potential impacts of fisheries management changes on the wider ecosystem.

Project phases:

14. Seafish envisages that the 2020 ERA will consist of the following phases:

a. Phase 1: Planning - The contractor will work in collaboration with Client Group to: i. Agree the fisheries to be assessed and ecosystem boundaries, drawing to

the experience of the previous assessment;ii. Establish the principles and goals that will underpin the assessment of the

fishery (these should be aligned to the previous assessment); and

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iii. Determine the process for the Expert Panel workshop including panel participants and the required pre-workshop guidance.

b. Phase 2: Preparation for the Expert Panel workshop - The contractor will:i. Plan and prepare for the Expert Panel Workshop and ensure appropriate

representation on the panel and availability of expert advice to inform the panel discussion;

ii. Review the previous workshop findings and explore likely reasons for change since 2014;

iii. Ensure that appropriate supporting information is available to support the Expert Panel workshop; and

iv. Establish Operational Objectives for the ecosystem components in line with the principles and goals which have been be agreed by the ‘Client Group’ in Phase 1.

c. Phase 3: Expert Panel Workshop - The contractor will:i. Convene and chair the Expert Panel workshop (this workshop is expected to

occur over two days); and ii. Ensure that the Expert Panel agree with the Relative Impact Scores of fishing

on the various ecological components within the scoring framework capturing where scores have changed and evidence of the effectiveness or otherwise of changes in management.

d. Phase 4: Produce ERA report - The contractor will prepare a report on the findings of the workshop to include:

i. A review of the findings of the risk assessment;ii. A comparison with the previous 2013-4 assessment;

iii. A status update on the impact that fishing is having on key species and the wider marine environment;

iv. An assessment of where changes in management and operational performance have occurred since the 2013-4 assessment, and the impact of these changes;

v. Where further management intervention may be required; andvi. A key list of priority actions that have emerged as a consequence of the

assessment.

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Part C: The Tender and Contract

15. Timetable for delivery: The start date for the project is April 2020 and the target delivery date of the completed report is July 2020. Responses to this tender should include an explanation if this timeline is considered challenging.

16. Costs: Seafish will not provide an indicative budget for this work, in advance of the tender submission date. Tenders should be submitted covering all costs associated with the project. Each phase of the work should be costed separately. Costs should be stated exclusive and inclusive of VAT, if applicable.

17. An applicant is not entitled to claim from Seafish any costs or expenses incurred in preparing the tender document whether or not it is successful.

18. Responsibilities of the contractor: The contractor will be responsible for completing the project and producing the ERA report within the agreed deadline. The contractor is responsible for fulfilling all responsibilities within the quoted costs.

19. Responses to this tender: Contractors are requested to submit a response to this tender, providing detail of the approach to be taken, expertise, and a detailed plan specifying timescales for the project, by main phases. Further details on the proposed content of the tender can be found in Appendix 2.

20. Timeline of tender process: The deadline for submitting tenders by e-mail is 4pm on Thursday 5 March 2020. Submissions received after this time will not be accepted. Seafish expects to notify the successful applicant by w/c 16 March 2020.

21. Awarding criteria: All submissions will be assessed for their value-for-money and quality. The detailed criteria for assessing submitted tenders are set out below.

Criteria Weighting (%)

Value for money 30

Quality

Understanding of the requirements 15

Approach to undertaking the project 15

Relevant experience and expertise in this field 40

22. Contract and project management: The contract and project will be managed by Seafish who will be responsible for ensuring the project is delivered. The project will be managed within Seafish’s standard project management process. The contractor is required to submit regular (as agreed) updates on progress. Upon appointment, the successful contractor will be required to sign a contract including a confidentiality agreement.

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23. Contact information: For further information on this tender and to submit completed tenders by e-mail by the deadline (4pm on Thursday 5 March 2020), please contact:

a. Holly Kaiser on [email protected]. Aoife Martin on [email protected]

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mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


Appendix 1: References

Cotter, J., Lart, W., de Rozarieux, N., Kingston, A., Caslake, R., Le Quesne, W., Jennings, S., Caveen, A., and Brown, M. (2015) A development of ecological risk screening with an application to fisheries off SW England. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, Volume 72, Issue 3, March/April 2015, Pages 1092–1104.

https://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article/72/3/1092/2835879

Seafish, (2014a)Ecological Risk Assessment of the effects of fishing for South West fisheries; ICESDivisions VII e,f,g & hSeafish Report SR 670

https://seafish.org/media/Publications/SR670ERAEFFinal_report1.pdf

Seafish (2014b)SR672 Ecological Risk Assessment of the effects of fishing for South West fisheries;ICES Divisions VII e,f,g & h ;Supporting informationSeafish Report SR 672

https://www.seafish.org/media/publications/SR672ERAEFSupporting_information.pdf

Seafish (2014c)SR671 Ecological Risk Assessment of the effects of fishing for South West fisheries;ICES Divisions VII e,f,g & h ; Assessment spreadsheetSeafish Report SR 671; please contact Seafish for a copy of the assessment spreadsheet.

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https://www.seafish.org/media/publications/SR672ERAEFSupporting_information.pdf

https://seafish.org/media/Publications/SR670ERAEFFinal_report1.pdf

https://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article/72/3/1092/2835879


Appendix 2: Details to be included in the submitted tender

As a minimum, tenderers are required to submit the following:

1. Contact details:a. Name of the lead partner(s)b. Main point of contact, together with email and telephone numberc. Company registration number and registered addressd. VAT number

2. Methodology: explain how the work will be undertaken, including the key activities.

3. Capability statement: evidence capabilities and track records in this area, including examples of relevant projects successfully completed (with dates).

4. Project team: overview of the project team who will undertake the work, including relevant skills and expertise to successfully deliver the project.

5. Project management: an overview of the approach to be adopted, together with a Gantt chart indicating milestones and activity dependencies.

6. Project risks: identify the key project risks (e.g. financial, management etc.).

7. Costings:a. Consultancy fees – by activity and including staff timeb. Project managementc. Others (e.g. disbursements) d. VAT where applicablee. Totalf. Day rate costing in the event additional post-contract support (e.g. meetings and in

support of draft action plan) is required by Seafish.

8. Disclaimer: detail any projects previously undertaken for Seafish; including point of contact; or any family members currently employed by Seafish, or employed over the last five-years.

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