CEFAS22-63 Request for Quotation for Marine underwater imagery analysis for Plymouth Sound and Estuaries SAC.

Cefas wishes to commission a contract to undertake the analysis of seabed imagery (still images and video) collected from the Plymouth Sound and Estuaries SAC in 2021. - Analysis will be undertaken as set out in imagery specification provided for this work ('Imagery Spec', included as part of the Tender package) and adhering to the NMBAQC Epibiota interpretation guidelines (Turner et al, 2016). - The online annotation software BIIGLE will be used to annotate video and still images as described in the analysis specification. - Video tows are to be segmented into areas of continuous broadscale seabed habitat type greater than or equal to 5 m along transect distance. - A minimum of 10% of the videos and stills should be re-analysed for QA purposes by the contractor and reported on. - Any deviation from this methodology should be approved in writing by the Cefas project officer. - The successful Tenderer will produce an analysis report. - Substrate and taxonomic image reference collections are required - A start-up meeting will be held with the winning Tenderer within a week of the contract being awarded.

During the start-up meeting Cefas will provide guidance on use of BIIGLE in MPA projects if needed.

Access to the imagery in a BIIGLE project will be given on request to aid in the tendering process.

Outputs 1.

Weekly project summary updates 2.

A short report, see guidance document for a suggested report outline.

3.

Data are to be entered within the proforma spreadsheets. a.

Completed and QC'd stills proformas b.

Completed and QC'd video proforma 4.

Still/video proforma and species matrices to be provided for the internally QA'd samples.

5.

A combined video/still image reference collection for the taxa identified.

6.

A combined video/still image reference collection for the biotopes encountered.

Quantity: 344 minutes of video and 355 stills from 27 stations