The East Devon National Landscape is seeking proposals from qualified environmental marine consultants to conduct a detailed Stage 1 desk-based assessment. This study will evaluate the feasibility of reintroducing the European Flat Oyster (Ostrea edulis) into the coastal waters and estuaries of East Devon.
Native oysters are critical ecosystem engineers that have declined significantly across Europe. This project aims to determine if restoration is viable within our waters, aligning with regional priorities like the East Devon National Landscape Management Plan, emerging East Devon Nature Recovery Plan and Local Nature Recovery Strategies. This will help deliver the against the Government 30×30 Target to protect 30% of land and sea for wildlife by 2030.
Closing date for quotes is 12am Friday 24th July 2026.
Project Area
The geographic scope of this desk-based assessment covers the coastal waters and intertidal zones from Lyme Regis (including the whole of Lyme Regis – Eastern boundary) to the Exe Estuary (Western boundary).
- The assessment must include all intermediate estuaries, specifically the Exe Estuary, Otter Estuary, Sid Estuary and Axe Estuary.
- It must span from the upper tidal limits of these estuaries across the whole coastline of the East Devon National Landscape out to the 12-nautical-mile territorial waters limit, prioritising shallow coastal zones suitable for Ostrea edulis (up to 80m depth).
Budget & Timeline
Budget: This is an invitation to tender. Please outline your proposed approach to this commission, drawing on your experience to demonstrate how you would successfully deliver these objectives along with a price for completing the project. Max 4 pages.
Delivery window: August 2026 to March 2027.
Find out more and apply
There is more information about this Invitation to Tender in the full brief. Please read carefully to understand the full requirements. Responses to questions clarifying elements of the brief will be published below.
Please get in touch if you have further queries.
Q & A on Brief
What is the indicative budget?
Indicative Budget – £30k-40k – however as part of your submission, we would ask that you provide a brief ‘menu’ of options, e.g. if the tender was £50,000, that would get you x, y & z in addition.
The reason being we don’t have a fixed budget as such, so we potentially could get more money to support this.
We want this report to be as detailed as possible, therefore it would be interesting to know what level of detail we can get for different price points.
Does the 4 page limit apply to our whole submission or just the proposed approach?
4-page limit is for the proposed approach