Thomson Unicomarine, the marine arm of our sister company, leading UK ecology consultancy Thomson Ecology, has won a three year contract with the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (Afbi), advisor to the government of Northern Ireland on fisheries and the environment.
The three year contract will see Thomson Unicomarine undertaking benthic invertebrate identification in support of Afbi’s work as part of the National Marine Monitoring Programme, which underpins the UK’s requirements from the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic (OSPAR Convention) and EC Directives such as the Water Framework Directive.
This announcement comes hot on the heels of Thomson Unicomarine being awarded a contract to support Cefas (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science) through their framework for benthic sample analysis services. This award was judged on quality and builds on the strong reputation Thomson Unicomarine has acquired over the past 30 years of benthic analysis.
Nancy Thomson, CEO Thomson Ecology said:
“We are delighted to continue working with Abfi and Cefas on these new contracts. Thomson Unicomarine has been working with Abfi on the marine monitoring programme since 2005 and this award illustrates the trust they clearly have in our team’s expertise. The fact that we have been awarded both these contracts underpins our benthic invertebrate expertise and highlights to our commercial clients the reputation for quality that we have built up over the years with publicly-funded bodies.”
Notes
OSPAR is the mechanism by which fifteen Governments of the western coasts and catchments of Europe, together with the European Union, cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic.