The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) is Australia’s lead management agency of the Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is considered the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem, and much of the agency’s work centres around the protect of the reef amidst impacts of climate change, coastal development, land based run off and activities such as illegal fishing. Part of this work is governed by The Reef Protection Initiative which seeks to enhance Great Barrier Reef Marine Park protection and conservation through services such as Eye on the Reef monitoring, crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) control and site stewardship activities.
As such the GBRMPA has issued a Request for Tender (RFT) this week seeking tourism operators to undertake Site Stewardship and Reef Protection Services at select tourism sites within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Of importance is the mandtory requirement for tenderers to hold a current Permit to conduct a tourist program which must remain current throughout the whole of the Contract Term. Evidence of this will be required to be submitted.
The Services required will include:
a. Completion of the Customer’s Eye on the Reef Tourism Weekly monitoring, including photo-point enhancement as a GPS-track recorded path as part of an approved Site Monitoring Plan in consultation with the Customer.
b. Completion of Reef Health and Impact Surveys in a set of three surveys per site, per location
c. Development of a Site Monitoring Plan/s for each proposed monitoring and COTS control site
d. Development of a Site Stewardship Plan for frequently visited locations.
and one or more of the following:
a. Facilitation of on-country visits for Traditional Owners of the reef locations identified to support reconnecting with country or cultural mapping activities.
b. Crown-of-thorns starfish control at permitted locations using the COTS Control Guidelines
c. Drupella removal at permitted tourism sites within locations listed in the tender documentation
d. Experience development and implementation of the Be a Marine Biologist for a Day educational resources into product offering.
e. Development of interpretation content, talks and tours that connect visitors to the values of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.
f. Permitted site-intervention activities.
Services are expected to be provided between the Contract Execution Date and 31 May 2024 and include up to a maximum of 150 activity days. An industry briefing will be held on Thursday 7 April 2022 at 09:00 QLD Local time (virtual via Zoom). This RFT will close Monday, 16 May 2022.
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