Marine Aggregates
The surface sediments of the seabed off South East England consist largely of sand and gravel and host rich and diverse communities of wildlife. Whilst being important habitats for wildlife, these sediment deposits are also of great interest to the aggregate extraction industry, who dredge these materials up from the seabed for the construction of roads, buildings and other developments. Great Britain’s demand for aggregates equates to approximately 4 tonnes per person, per year, or a total of 272 million tonnes. 21 million tonnes of this is dredged from the seabed every year. This extraction can have an impact on the sand and gravel habitats and the wildlife they support. With the Government’s commitment to build thousands of new houses in South East England and the recent identification and exploitation of large offshore gravel resources in the region, understanding the impacts of extracting aggregates is vital if our marine environment is to be protected from long term or irreversible damage.
Recently the South East Marine Programme has focused on the impacts of the marine aggregates industry on the biodiversity of marine habitats. South East England is one of the UK's principal locations for marine aggregate extraction, with licensed sites off the Isle of Wight and East and West Sussex. These sites currently produce 5 million tonnes of sand and gravel each year, with a value of £40-50 million. The proposed East Channel Region extraction area will potentially be England's largest and most productive site, yielding up to 17 million tonnes per annum.
Gravel extraction in the East Channel Region and other licence areas in the South East could cause severe and possibly permanent reductions in biodiversity over an area of more than 200 km2. At present, the conservation of offshore sand and gravel biotopes in the South East depends on the environmental management of marine aggregate extraction and other industries, as neither the Habitats Directive nor Biodiversity Action Planning have been actively applied in this environment. Marine Spatial Planning is a developing tool that might be applied to ensure more effective, integrated management and protection of marine biotopes.
Between 2002 and 2007 the South East Marine Programme, in conjunction with Natural England's Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund, focused on the impacts of the marine aggregates industry on the biodiversity of marine habitats.
