David Levy – Dredging and Environmental Implications – Sep 17
Year on year off, offshore dredgers of sand and gravel (called aggregates) have taken millions of tonnes from sites around the UK.
Apart from the licence costs, the aggregate companies have just benefited from this exploitation.
These companies are household names — Hanson / Lafarge / Cemex to name the largest, and this marine product goes towards terrestrial house building.
You may say well done them, and I can see this point of view if you are ignorant of the consequences.
Environmentally speaking, dredging causes onshore erosion and impacts on sea defences as wave action becomes more forceful on coastal topography, and cliffs collapse and houses go into the sea.
Government has abandoned this process as “inevitable”, and the companies have no accountability for their actions. You would think they could work with local communities and plan with them how best to defend the shorelines.
There is little evidence that they do this. However I am prepared to be amazed. Over to you.
Just as a sideline, it is the sandbanks and gravel banks that are the spawning and nursery grounds for species of fish that are really under pressure for survival.
This is the time of consequences for us as humanity. To date, our selections appear really poor.
David Levy
