CEFAS22-129 Contract for Marine Underwater Imagery Analysis for Fulmar MCZ

Cefas wishes to commission a contract to undertake the analysis of seabed imagery (still images and video) collected from Fulmar MCZ 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 5m along transect distance. Sea-pen and burrowing megafauna analysis transects will be additionally analysed using frames taken from the video.

• A minimum of 10% of the videos and stills should be re-analysed for QA purposes by the contractor and reported on.

• An external QA (10% reanalysis) will be undertaken in advance of final data delivery. Following award of the contract, and dependent on the evaluation scores they achieved, unsuccessful bidders may be invited to undertake the independent external QA aspects of this project. Please indicate in your tender if you wish to be considered for this work.

• 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.