---
title: "Investigation into the potential risk of entanglement of marine mammals with discarded fishing gear associated with floating offshore wind farms"
ocid: "ocds-r6ebe6-0000773723"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-r6ebe6-0000773723"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000773723.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000773723.json"
source: "Public Contracts Scotland"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT"
published: "2024-12-12"
---

# Investigation into the potential risk of entanglement of marine mammals with discarded fishing gear associated with floating offshore wind farms

Buyer: SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-r6ebe6-0000773723

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## Summary

The Scottish Government has initiated an open tender for a project titled "Investigation into the potential risk of entanglement of marine mammals with discarded fishing gear associated with floating offshore wind farms." The contract, valued at approximately £130,000, is classified under the services industry category and focuses on the general public services sector. The project's location is in Scotland (region UKM). The procurement process is currently in the tender stage, with submissions due by 29th August 2024. The awarded contract will last for 720 days, with an option for a six-month extension at the discretion of the purchasing authority.

This tender presents significant opportunities for businesses, particularly those in environmental consulting, marine science, and offshore wind energy sectors. Companies equipped with expertise in monitoring tools, remote-operated vehicles (ROVs), and data modelling will find this project well-suited to their capabilities. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are encouraged to participate, and the involvement of SAMS Applied Marine Science Enterprise Limited as the awarded supplier indicates a preference for specialised knowledge in marine environmental assessments. Participating in this tender can lead to substantial business growth by contributing to the sustainable expansion of floating offshore wind in Scotland, enhancing the evidence base for environmental assessments, and fostering innovation in renewable energy solutions.

## Notice

The Offshore Wind Directorate invites a tender from a suitable contractor to define the risk of entanglement with discarded fishing gear around mooring lines at floating offshore wind farm (FOW) sites. The Scottish Government has set a range of targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to generate more energy from renewable sources. The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2019 commits the Scottish Government to reach net zero emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2045. Offshore wind will play a vital part in meeting these targets, and is set to expand substantially in Scotland over the next decade and beyond, as evident by the recent ScotWind seabed leasing round by the Crown Estate Scotland. In January 2021 and through its clearing process in August 2022, Crown Estate Scotland has offered Option Agreements for 20 offshore wind projects around Scotland totalling 27.6GW of potential new offshore wind developments. The related offshore wind Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) decarbonisation planning and leasing process outlined a further 5.4GW of projects. This project will assess entanglement risk by using monitoring tools such as load cells, remote operated vehicles (ROV) and other tools to identify the snag rate of abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) on mooring lines of FOW developments. This will be coupled with modelling of density and distribution of ALDFG across Scottish shelf waters or estimation of snag rate at a given site based on data detailing potential sources, identified prevalence based on available data and oceanographic drift. Should substantial risk be identified, the project should also consider and suggest potential mitigation measures and any associated future research needs to deliver these. This project will contribute to the overall process of the sustainable expansion of floating offshore wind in Scottish waters by improving the evidence base for environmental assessments and build on previous work seeking to establish the risk of entanglement.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

The Offshore Wind Directorate invites a tender from a suitable contractor to define the risk of entanglement with discarded fishing gear around mooring lines at floating offshore wind farm (FOW) sites. The Scottish Government has set a range of targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to generate more energy from renewable sources. The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2019 commits the Scottish Government to reach net zero emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2045. Offshore wind will play a vital part in meeting these targets, and is set to expand substantially in Scotland over the next decade and beyond, as evident by the recent ScotWind seabed leasing round by the Crown Estate Scotland. In January 2021 and through its clearing process in August 2022, Crown Estate Scotland has offered Option Agreements for 20 offshore wind projects around Scotland totalling 27.6GW of potential new offshore wind developments. The related offshore wind Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) decarbonisation planning and leasing process outlined a further 5.4GW of projects. It is Scottish Government policy to ensure that decisions are informed by the best available evidence and make reasonable effort to address any gaps in knowledge. There is a requirement on the marine licensing authority (Scottish Ministers) to have regard to the need to protect the environment as part of determining any marine licence. Furthermore, the evaluation of potential interactions between renewables projects, marine wildlife and other users of the sea is required and forms part of plan and project level assessments. The assessments include Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA), Habitat Regulation Appraisals (HRA), Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and Social and Economic Impact Assessments. The upcoming expansion of Offshore Wind in Scotland will include an increase in the scale of Floating Offshore Wind (FOW) developments due to sites being located in deeper waters. Given the relative youth of this technology, there is a paucity of empirical evidence to help inform environmental assessments of the potential impacts of these developments. This project will assess entanglement risk by using monitoring tools such as load cells, remote operated vehicles (ROV) and other tools to identify the snag rate of abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) on mooring lines of FOW developments. This will be coupled with modelling of density and distribution of ALDFG across Scottish shelf waters or estimation of snag rate at a given site based on data detailing potential sources, identified prevalence based on available data and oceanographic drift. Should substantial risk be identified, the project should also consider and suggest potential mitigation measures and any associated future research needs to deliver these. This project will contribute to the overall process of the sustainable expansion of floating offshore wind in Scottish waters by improving the evidence base for environmental assessments and build on previous work seeking to establish the risk of entanglement.

Renewal: An optional 6 month extension option will be available to the purchasing authority to utilise at their discretion.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Public Contracts Scotland |
| Latest notice | https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=DEC520088 |
| Notice type | OJEU - F3 - Contract Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Open procedure |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 12 Dec 2024 |
| Submission deadline | 29 Aug 2024 |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 18 Nov 2024 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £130,000 |
| Lots value | £130,000 |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £129,543 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Not specified |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT |
| Locality | GLASGOW |
| Post town | Glasgow |
| Postcode | G2 8EA |
| Country | Scotland |
| ITL 1 | TLM Scotland |
| ITL 2 | TLM5 North Eastern Scotland |
| ITL 3 | TLM50 Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire |
| Local authority | Aberdeen City |
| Electoral ward | Torry/Ferryhill |
| Westminster constituency | Aberdeen South |
| Delivery location | TLM Scotland |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | SAMS APPLIED MARINE SCIENCE ENTERPRISE |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 45 - Construction work
- 71 - Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services
- 73 - Research and development services and related consultancy services
- 90 - Sewage, refuse, cleaning and environmental services

### Codes

- 45262640 - Environmental improvement works
- 71313400 - Environmental impact assessment for construction
- 71313420 - Environmental standards for construction
- 71313430 - Environmental indicators analysis for construction
- 71313440 - Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) services for construction
- 71313450 - Environmental monitoring for construction
- 73110000 - Research services
- 73112000 - Marine research services
- 90700000 - Environmental services

## Release History

- 12 Dec 2024 at 00:00 - Award - OJEU - F3 - Contract Award Notice - https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=DEC520088
- 29 Jul 2024 at 00:00 - Tender - OJEU - F2 - Contract Notice - https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=JUL510829

## Documents

- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=JUL510829
  Investigation into the potential risk of entanglement of marine mammals with discarded fishing gear associated with floating offshore wind farms - The Offshore Wind Directorate invites a tender from a suitable contractor to define the risk of entanglement with discarded fishing gear around mooring lines at floating offshore wind farm (FOW) sites. The Scottish Government has set a range of targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to generate more energy from renewable sources. The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2019 commits the Scottish Government to reach net zero emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2045. Offshore wind will play a vital part in meeting these targets, and is set to expand substantially in Scotland over the next decade and beyond, as evident by the recent ScotWind seabed leasing round by the Crown Estate Scotland. In January 2021 and through its clearing process in August 2022, Crown Estate Scotland has offered Option Agreements for 20 offshore wind projects around Scotland totalling 27.6GW of potential new offshore wind developments. The related offshore wind Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) decarbonisation planning and leasing process outlined a further 5.4GW of projects. This project will assess entanglement risk by using monitoring tools such as load cells, remote operated vehicles (ROV) and other tools to identify the snag rate of abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) on mooring lines of FOW developments. This will be coupled with modelling of density and distribution of ALDFG across Scottish shelf waters or estimation of snag rate at a given site based on data detailing potential sources, identified prevalence based on available data and oceanographic drift. Should substantial risk be identified, the project should also consider and suggest potential mitigation measures and any associated future research needs to deliver these. This project will contribute to the overall process of the sustainable expansion of floating offshore wind in Scottish waters by improving the evidence base for environmental assessments and build on previous work seeking to establish the risk of entanglement.
- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=DEC520088
  Investigation into the potential risk of entanglement of marine mammals with discarded fishing gear associated with floating offshore wind farms - The Offshore Wind Directorate invites a tender from a suitable contractor to define the risk of entanglement with discarded fishing gear around mooring lines at floating offshore wind farm (FOW) sites. The Scottish Government has set a range of targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to generate more energy from renewable sources. The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2019 commits the Scottish Government to reach net zero emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2045. Offshore wind will play a vital part in meeting these targets, and is set to expand substantially in Scotland over the next decade and beyond, as evident by the recent ScotWind seabed leasing round by the Crown Estate Scotland. In January 2021 and through its clearing process in August 2022, Crown Estate Scotland has offered Option Agreements for 20 offshore wind projects around Scotland totalling 27.6GW of potential new offshore wind developments. The related offshore wind Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) decarbonisation planning and leasing process outlined a further 5.4GW of projects. This project will assess entanglement risk by using monitoring tools such as load cells, remote operated vehicles (ROV) and other tools to identify the snag rate of abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) on mooring lines of FOW developments. This will be coupled with modelling of density and distribution of ALDFG across Scottish shelf waters or estimation of snag rate at a given site based on data detailing potential sources, identified prevalence based on available data and oceanographic drift. Should substantial risk be identified, the project should also consider and suggest potential mitigation measures and any associated future research needs to deliver these. This project will contribute to the overall process of the sustainable expansion of floating offshore wind in Scottish waters by improving the evidence base for environmental assessments and build on previous work seeking to establish the risk of entanglement.

## Notice URLs

- http://
- http://www.publictendersscotland.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk
- http://www.scotland.gov.uk
- https://api.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/v1/Notice?id=ocds-r6ebe6-0000773723
- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA10482
- https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/courts-and-tribunals/courts-tribunals-and-office-locations/find-us/edinburgh-sheriff-court-and-justice-of-the-peace-court/

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-r6ebe6-0000773723. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000773723.json.