Aggregate extraction from tidal sandbanks: Is dredging with nature an option? Introduction

Van Lancker, Vera R.M., Bonne, Wendy, Velegrakis, Adonis and Collins, Michael B. (2010) Aggregate extraction from tidal sandbanks: Is dredging with nature an option? Introduction. Journal of Coastal Research, SI (51), 53-62. (doi:10.2112/SI51-005.1).

Abstract

Sandbanks are considered as primary targets for the marine aggregate industry, not only because of considerations
related to resource quality and operational advantages, but also due to the notion that natural sediment transport
processes that form and maintain sandbanks are able to counterbalance the loss of sediment due to extraction.
This paper introduces: (a) the problems related to the assessment of the impacts of aggregate extraction from
tidal sandbanks; and (b) the multidisciplinary and integrated research that was undertaken on the potential for
regeneration of the most intensively exploited area of the Kwinte Bank (Flemish Banks, Belgian Continental Shelf),
following the cessation of extraction on this part of the sandbank. We assert that the results of a 30-year monitoring
of exploitation effects along the Kwinte Bank have put in doubt the universal notion of ‘dredging with nature’. The
elongated depressions that have been observed in the most heavily exploited areas provide a clear signal that more
detailed information and thorough assessment are required in order to understand and predict the most likely
evolution of the bank’s hydro-sedimentary regime and its natural and anthropogenically-induced dynamics.

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