CEFAS25-74 – Contract for Coastal Health Programme – Association of IFCA’s

The Coastal Health Partnership is a consortium of governmental and non-governmental organisations that leads the UK preparedness to declines in wild animal and plant health (ecosystem health/ecosystems functioning, resilience?) around the UK coast. The partnership was formed under a HM Treasury Shared Outcomes Funded pilot programme and continues to operate through a meta-community of government agencies, academic research groups, citizen science initiatives, local groups of interest, local and national response units and industry bodies.

The partnership has four aims:

1. To monitor changes in coastal health, produce risk assessments and prediction analysis of changes in environmental pressures for key commercial species in coastal zones
2. To work with the industry to increase resilience to those risks, future-proof the inshore fishing and aquaculture sector and enable growth.
3. To provide scientific expertise and state-of-the-art research capacity and advise policy and decision-makers when dealing with (investigating?) acute declines in health of coastal organisms.
4. To facilitate engagement and “knowledge exchange” between local communities and public bodies on perceived risks and changes to environmental and human health.

Requirement:

Following on from the work delivered in the pilot phase of the Coastal Health programme, The Association of Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCA) has been selected to support delivery of core requirements as follows:

• To attend Working Group meetings with Coastal Health partners to review the proposal for a Coastal Health Operational Model and its implementation.
• Work with all IFCAs to input in the development of protocols and tools to improve our preparedness, response and intelligence gathering processes, and trial their implementation at a national scale.
• To engage with other response groups including PREMIAM (Pollution Response in Emergencies – Marine Impact Assessment and Monitoring) cells, environment groups and Tactical Coordination Groups (TCGs) and enable collaboration and streamlined communication pathways when dealing with a complex event affecting the health of coastal animals.
• As needed, to enable the collection of animal samples in the event of a die-off (or other adverse event), to facilitate prompt investigations of possible causes by Cefas and the Environment Agency.
• To facilitate the community engagement work planned under the Coastal Health programme, through mapping of, and engagement with, regional and local groups of interest in coastal zones, utilising the existing IFCA network to create a nation-wide web of “Coastal Health actors”.
• To work with Cefas and Kent and Essex IFCA to scope and pilot a nation-wide community engagement project based on the findings of the “Changing Seas” project. (TBC and further discussions to be held on this)
• Provide a dedicated officer as liaison and communications lead (0.5 FTE) for the programme. The role will engage with coastal communities, facilitate feedback loops and ensure community perspectives and traditional knowledge inform wider scientific and policy discussions. The person will lead engagement with the wider coastal community and will report on the variety of coastal community groups, local authorities and other coastal networks relevant to the programme; their work will build a network and support for the programme. The role will develop a database of contacts around the country and will act as liaison with citizen science projects and restoration programmes, critical to the success and implementation of the project.

Deliverables:

1. Quarterly report summarising progress, finances, risks and issues to be delivered to the programme board

a. To be delivered by 17th October 2025

2. Quarterly report summarising progress, finances, risks and issues to be delivered to the programme board

a. To be delivered by 23rd January 2026

3. Quarterly report summarising progress, finances, risks and issues to be delivered to the programme board

a. To be delivered by 27th March 2026

4. Community engagement report

a. To be delivered by 27TH March 2026.

5. Development of IFCA protocols for responding to coastal health incidents.

a. To be delivered by 27TH March 2026.