Calling for entries from companies and consortia interested to progress a research project entitled ‘Improving methods for apportioning seabirds seen at sea both in the breeding season and non-breeding season’, created under ORJIP Offshore Wind Stage 2.
Offshore Renewables Joint Industry Programme (ORJIP) for Offshore Wind launched its second stage in July 2019 with the objective of identifying, prioritising and selecting research to reduce consenting risk for offshore wind.
The need to verify current methods of apportioning seabirds at sea to specific population scales during the breeding and non-breeding seasons was identified as a key research topic. ORJIP Offshore Wind has selected to proceed with a project to consider further how connectivity and subsequent apportioning is established. This project will assess current approaches to apportioning seabirds to Special Protection Area (SPA) colonies and wider regional populations outside of SPAs, and seek to validate their underlying assumptions using empirical data.
This project aims to reduce uncertainty in how the offshore wind sector apportions seabirds recorded during at-sea surveys to particular populations. This will enable more robust pre-consent impact assessments by:
- Considering how to establish connectivity between birds present in offshore areas at different times of the year and at different population scales (e.g. from biogeographic and regional to breeding colonies and designated sites), crucially including the relative contribution of different populations to seabirds present offshore.
- Reviewing current approaches to apportioning by using empirical data and other evidence sources to validate their underlying assumptions.
- Identifying improvements to existing approaches or, if required, identifying and developing new approaches.
Clarification questions should be received by 4 December 2020. Answers to these questions will be posted below by 18 December 2020 at the latest.
The closing date to receive tender submissions is 22 January 2021 17:30 GMT.
All clarification questions and tender submissions should be sent electronically, by their respective deadlines, to liam.leahy@carbontrust.com & oliver.patrick@carbontrust.com.
