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Press comment from around the world

Although we regularly see comment in our media of the British Government reassurances that offshore sand and aggregate dredging has no connection whatsoever with the escalating erosion of our UK shoreline, it is of interest to see that outside the UK a more enlightened understanding is publicised.
Here follows some of the articles published.

Marine Aggregates     Coastal Erosion     Bathing Water  
Global Warming

Scientists Say Millions Could Flee Rising Seas

Australian Aggregate Dredging

New funding aims to curb threat of coastal erosion - Ireland

Thoughts on dredging and beach reclamation in the USA from 1991

Sand can be polluted when the sea water is clean - Environmental News Network

Offshore dredging in New Zealand from the New Zealand Herald

Charity declares marine protection on the cards

New Zealand Protest at Offshore Dredging

East Coast flooding could increase without more cash

Dredging Sand in Bahrain

UK 'Funding withdrawn from coastal defences'

New Zealand - Ironsand mining bid upsets iwi

New Zealand - 'Sand mined from Pakiri irreplaceable'

New Zealand - Gravel firm 'making erosion worse'

New Zealand - 'Council recommends dredging ends'

Indonesia - 'Coastline erosion a problem, says Regent'

Europe - 'Commission puts spotlight on coastal erosion'

Ireland - '20% of coastline suffering erosion'

Indonesia - 'Sand dredging endangers islets'

Dubai - construction of Palm Islands

Scientists Say Millions Could Flee Rising Seas

Environmental News Network - 10th November 2006 www.enn.com/today.html?id=11633

Nations must make plans to help tens of millions of "sea level refugees" if climate change continues to ravage the world's oceans, German researchers said on Thursday. Waters are rising and warming, increasing the destructive power of storms, they said, and seas are becoming more acidic, threatening to throw entire food chains into chaos.

"In the long run, sea level rises are going to be the most severe impact of global warming on human society," said Professor Stefan Rahmstorf, presenting a report by German scientists at a major United Nations climate change meeting. Warming could melt ice sheets and raise water levels, and the report said nations should already be considering making a "managed retreat" from the most endangered areas, including low-lying island states, parts of Bangladesh or even the U.S. state of Florida.

A report by international scientists who advise the U.N. has predicted a sea level rise of up to 88 cm between 1990 and 2100. The situation was worsened, the German team said on Thursday, by the increasing frequency of extreme storms whipped up by warming sea surface temperatures -- meaning many would flee coastal areas hit by hurricanes. Many of the world's biggest cities, from Tokyo to Buenos Aires, are by the coast. Some rich nations might be able to build ever higher dikes, such as in the Netherlands, but poor nations were destined to be swamped. The low-lying Pacific island nation of Tuvalu has already agreed a deal for New Zealand to take about half its 10,000 people to work in agriculture if it becomes swamped by rising sea levels.

HURRICANE ENERGY

Rahmstorf said their data did not conclusively prove warmer seas created more storms, but that there was a clear link between rising temperatures and hurricanes' power. "Since 1980 we've seen a strong rise up to unprecedented levels of hurricane energy now in the Atlantic," he said.

Some 189 nations are meeting in Kenya to explore options for a global deal to combat climate change, with most focusing on cutting the amount of carbon dioxide pumped into the air by industry and modern lifestyles.

The report's authors, the German Advisory Council on Global Change, said about a third of that CO2 was being absorbed by the world's oceans, making them more acidic. If not checked, it said, that would have profound effects on marine organisms -- hindering everything from tiny shrimps to lobsters from forming their calcite shells -- with disastrous results for ocean food chains, and on human communities depending on sea life to survive.

Coral reefs that attract fish and protect coasts from storms and erosion are also threatened by acidity, and CO2 emissions meant they could all be dead by 2065, Rahmstorf said. "Acidity is causing a major threat to coral reefs, on top of the bleaching effect that comes with warming," he said. Reefs get bleached when warm water forces out tiny algae living in them, giving reefs nutrients and their vivid colours. Without algae, corals whiten and eventually die.

Australian Aggregate Dredging

It appears that terminal myopia is now affecting the Australian Environment Protection Agency, and that support of commercial Offshore Aggregate Dredging is not just confined to Britain and America. Here is an item from Australia's 'ABC News' - Pat Gowen www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200607/s1698318.htm

EPA banks on research behind sand dredging - July 27th 2006

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says its decision to approve the extraction of 15 million cubic metres of sand from the Moreton Bay Marine Park is based on years of research.

Caloundra city councillor and a former member of the Beach Protection Authority, Andrew Champion, has voiced concerns the sand dredging would result in a loss of sand from Sunshine Coast beaches.

But the EPA's Lindsay Delzoppo says the removal of sand from Spitfire Banks, between Bribie Island and Moreton Island, will not cause erosion along the coast's beaches. "The Spitfire Banks sand is sand that's come up from New South Wales believe it or not, it comes up around Cape Moreton and is deposited in that central to northern area of the bay and Bribie Island, the beaches along the Sunshine Coast have got a separate sand system to that and the sand movement there is south along Bribie Island."

New funding aims to curb threat of coastal erosion - Ireland

From 'Ireland on Line' 6th June 2006

Minister for the Marine John Browne today announced the allocation of €7.9m in funding for coastal protection and small harbours works throughout the country.

"Certain sections of our coastline are constantly under threat from erosion," said Mr Browne. "The coastal protection programme aims to construct works that slow or even halt this process in places where the coastline is at its most vulnerable."

Additional funding will also be provided to small harbours including Carrigaholt, Kilmore Quay and Burtonport.

"These harbours are of great importance and vital to the economic activity of the town or village they are located," said Mr Browne. "I am keen to see local authorities continue to develop alternative uses for harbours."

The schemes are co-funded by local authorities and in CLAR areas by the Department of Community, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs.

Thoughts on dredging and beach reclamation in the USA' from 'The Detroit News' of June 10th 1991

Pulitzer Prize winner Warren Brookes wrote the following article in 'The Detroit News' fifteen years ago. It provokes much thought on the causes of coastal erosion and on the use of modern technology to overcome it today.

View the article here.

Sand can be polluted when the sea water is clean

Environmental News Network www.enn.com/today.html?id=10527

May 24, 2006 - By Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Beach sand can be teeming with bacteria even when the ocean water is clean, according to a study released on Tuesday.

Health officials have long known that urban runoff pollutes ocean water with microbes including E. coli and enterococci bacteria found in fecal material. The study by University of California, Los Angeles researchers found microbes can grow in the sand as well, and remain there long after the ocean has flushed itself clean. "Even on days when the water is very clean, bacteria is still in the sand for a week," said Jennifer Jay, a UCLA environmental engineering professor who headed the study. "We feel it can be an important exposure route" for contamination.

Jay and a graduate researcher tested three beaches - Surfrider Beach in Malibu, Santa Monica Beach and Mother's Beach in Marina del Rey - during a storm in February 2003. They also surveyed sand at 13 Santa Monica Bay beaches from Malibu to Redondo during the summer, focusing on wet sand near the water's edge. They found that sand bacteria concentrations at sheltered beaches favored by parents with toddlers were 1,000 times higher than at beaches that were open to the ocean. However, Jay said it's hard to evaluate the health risk these bacteria pose because health standards for beach sediment have not been developed. Researchers will next examine whether viruses are present in the sand, she said.`

Mark Gold, executive director of Santa Monica-based Heal the Bay, said the study adds urgency to beach cleanup efforts and could lead to more health warnings posted along the shore.

Heal the Bay on Wednesday plans to release a list of the most polluted California beaches.

Offshore dredging in New Zealand from the New Zealand Herald of 20th February '06

Sand miner looks to hostile waters off Kaipara
By Wayne Thompson

A mining company has turned to a huge sand bank in the often stormy Tasman Sea for a new source to feed Auckland's building industry. McCallum Bros has lodged applications with the Auckland and Northland Regional Councils for extraction in the ebb tide delta. This area draws sand carried by coastal currents and is 2km to 4km outside the heads of Kaipara Harbour, in an area known as the Graveyard because more than 100 sailing ships have been lost there.

Director John McCallum said the application was to incrementally build up to taking a maximum of 300,000 cubic metres a year. This would fill about one-third of Auckland's construction sand needs. "We think we have come up with a long-term solution for the supply of sand for the Auckland building industry," he said.

Present sand supplies come from inside the Kaipara Harbour and Pakiri - on the east coast north of Warkworth - and the Waikato Valley. Since the 1940s, McCallum Bros have taken sand from the Mangawhai-Pakiri embayment. But it received a setback in April when it tried for resource consent renewal.

More than 650 people, including residents, scientists, surfers and the local iwi, were against it. The ARC recommended refusal to the Minister of Conservation after accepting evidence that the resource was not replenished naturally and continued extraction from near the shore would lead to or worsen coastal erosion. McCallum Bros and Sea Tow have appealed to the Environment Court.

Mr McCallum said the company accepted near-shore extraction at Pakiri would not give a long-term supply and intended to develop the offshore Kaipara resource as an alternative future source.

The 60sq km area of sand in the ebb tide delta was estimated at 12 billion cubic metres and was replenished by tidal currents moving sand up and down the coast. The project was early in the planning stage.

He believed the proposal would not affect the endangered Maui dolphins, saying there was little marine life in the turbulent area to attract them. Mr McCallum said the dredge would operate in 5m to 15m of water and would not be as easily seen from shore as Pakiri's dredges. It would be a ship of a type that worked successfully in ocean sand recovery in Europe and the United States. The ship would take 1500cu m loads to the Port of Onehunga to avoid crossing the treacherous Kaipara Bar and the need for trucks to make a 60km haul to Auckland City.

He played down the hazards of operating a ship in that area, saying it would be beyond the breaker line and weather records indicated about 250 working days a year were possible. ARC coastal projects leader Andrew Benson said the ebb tide delta appeared to be a good prospect but the main question was its sustainability.

Northland Regional Council harbour warden for the Kaipara Harbour and Ripiro Beach Des Subritzky said the application would be of great interest to people in the area. "It's a very hostile environment for a ship."

Mr McCallum said there were sharp differences between the proposal and the proposals of overseas mining companies to extract minerals from the seafloor. They were for deeper waters where the sea floor was more stable and had higher levels of marine life.

Charity declares marine protection on the cards - 28th December 2005 by Rosamond Hutt, Community Newswire, ENVIRONMENT Marine

A national charity dedicated to conserving the UK's habitats and species was today launching an electronic Christmas card as part of an appeal to save vulnerable marine life. The Wildlife Trusts has produced the free e-card, which features a tompot blenny fish, to raise awareness of the threat posed to species found in British coastal waters such as the bottlenose dolphin and the basking shark.

The charity is calling on the Government to include a number of "highly protected" off-shore nature reserves in its draft marine Bill, which aims to balance "conservation, energy and resource needs".

Joan Edwards, the Wildlife Trusts' head of marine policy, said: "Over half of the UK's biodiversity is found in the sea, yet less than 0.001% - an area smaller than Kensington Gardens - is highly protected. "It would be inconceivable to give this level of protection to wildlife on the land. The Lundy no-take zone is the only highly protected marine area in the UK. At 3.3 square kilometres that's 0.00038% of the seabed. To a statistician that's zero."

Highly protected marine reserves are areas of sea where only scientific research and limited leisure activities are permitted.

The Wildlife Trusts claims all the UK's marine life is in peril due to a lack of protection from fishing, oil and gas extraction and dredging of the seabed.

The charity said numbers of bottlenose dolphins in Cornish waters have declined by almost two thirds over the past 10 years. With only 350 of the mammals now thought to remain off the UK's coastlines, the species could vanish from local waters within five years. The Wildlife Trusts is a partnership of 47 local wildlife trusts around the UK, plus the Isle of Man and Alderney.

The free e-card can be downloaded at www.wildlifetrusts.org

New Zealand Protest at Offshore Dredging - 25th November 2005

New Zealand's NZ TV's "Close Up: The Threat of Sand Mining" is to be seen at http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411365/631880 It provides a video film of the rising protest against offshore dredging at New Plymouth, Aukland, Kaipara Harbour down to Tarnaki on North Island.

The situation there is identical to our own, with similar exploitation, similar excuses and similar denial of the consequences by those charged with the protection of the environment. Those aware of the consequences have formed an effective protest group, as shown on the film.

'East Coast flooding could increase' - 11th November 2005

From the Eastern Daily Press - by Sarah Brealey

Flooding of coastal areas could increase by up to 10 times without more cash, a report warns today. The news comes as an expert warned that East Anglia will suffer worst of all, with homes and property lost to flooding and coastal erosion.

Today's report, from the public body in charge of the environment, paints a bleak picture of coastal erosion, pollution, lower biodiversity and climate change.

The Environment Agency's report, called State of the Marine Environment, says: "Coastal flooding could increase between four and tenfold as a result of climate change if flood risk expenditure and management do not change." The prediction refers to the next 30-100 years, and suggests that the cost of flood damage - already about £1bn a year - will spiral.

Tom Crossett, chairman of the National Flood Forum, said: "The situation is worse in East Anglia because of the hand of cards that geology and nature have given it." Mr Crossett, who has been following the Happisburgh Action Group, said that not every home would justify the expense in saving it. But he urged the Government to spend more. Mark Johnson, local flood risk manager, said that the agency had an extra £100m from the Government this year, but it was still not enough.

The report says that 20% of coastline on the east coast is eroding at the rate of more than a metre a year. The report also says that undersea life is changing as a result of fishing and global warming. Over the last 40 years, warmer seas have forced some marine plants and animals to move north.

Dredging Sand in Bahrain - 31st October 2005

From Middle East North Africa Finanical Network, 3-3-04 www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=42993

Sand factories' operations threaten environment - Bahrain Tribune

Even as the Kingdom's construction industry grapples with a severe sand shortage, sand washing factories in Tubli and Ma'meer are being accused of violating Environmental Affairs (EA) guidelines and threatened with penalties.

According to Municipal Council Member Abbas Hassan Mahfood, who heads the Health and Environment Committee of the Central Area Municipal Council, the worst damage is to be seen in the Ma'meer Beach area where sand factories have ruined the beach and coastline through unchecked operations.

"The entire stretch of Ma'meer Beach is covered with silt and salt because of a lack of environmental checks on the factories," he said, adding, "There are about five or six factories operating in this area and I understand that the EA has already booked most of them for violating environmental laws. The strange thing is that when we investigated the matter, we were unable to trace who gave these factories permission to set up operations in this area in the first place."

Mahfood told Tribune that because of unregulated operations by these factories, the fish breeding grounds in the coastal areas around Ma'meer have been badly damaged.
"Dredging sand from the sea-bed is like wounding the delicate marine eco-balance of the Bahrain coast and leaving it to fester," he said, adding, "The silt disturbed by the dredging settles on the coral reefs and suffocates sea-life. Moreover, it changes the underwater topography and upsets the cycle so that fish leave the area or simply stop breeding. This can be disastrous for fishermen at a time when we are trying to uplift them."

Dr Saeed Abdullah, founder of the Kingdom's first eco-tourism development office, the Al Reem Environmental Consultation and Eco-tourism, said sand dredged from the sea also needed a lot of fresh water to cure and prepare. He said this was a two-pronged attack on the Kingdom's environment - the waste of precious fresh water and the destruction of a fragile and vitally important marine environmental resource.

Mahfood said a committee has now been formed, which consisted of all stakeholders such as ministry officials from the ministries of the interior, industry, commerce and works and housing, EA representatives, Ma'meer villagers, NGOs and the factory owners to resolve the issue in such a way that the factories comply with environmental regulations. "Inspections have already been started and we are hopeful that the problem will be resolved to everybody's satisfaction," he said.

'Funding withdrawn from coastal defences' From the Eastern Daily Press of 2nd September 2005 by Edward Foss

Millions of pounds of funding have been withdrawn from a key weak spot in Norfolk's coastal defences, leaving vast swathes of the Broads at greater risk of inundation by the sea. The decision to stop paying for beach recharge on the north east Norfolk coast will leave villages such as Sea Palling, Waxham, Horsey, Somerton and Hickling more vulnerable. The wider catchments area of the rivers Ant, Thurne and Bure would also be in increased danger.

The recharge scheme was designed to stop the sea breaking through low-lying dunes and into the popular waterways, the home for communities, wildlife and a thriving holiday industry.

Incensed coastal campaigners have said the news is the latest chapter in the Government's continuing withdrawal from spending on coastal defence. The Government, in the form of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), has defended its decision and said: "We can't support every single scheme."

The recharge project was launched in the mid 1990s as part of a wider scheme which saw nine granite offshore reefs built at Sea Palling and Waxham in order to protect the Broads. The section of coast is widely regarded as the North Sea's 'back door' to the Broads. Ever since, hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of sand have been regularly pumped onto the beach south of the reefs in order to maintain the integrity of the sea wall.

But the latest bid for funding, which saw the Environment Agency ask Defra for £2m for the 2005/06 financial year, has been refused. The bid was designed to allow 150,000 cubic metres of sand to be pumped onto the beach. There is concern that the decision will undermine the tens of millions of pounds spent on the reefs since the early 1990s.

Malcolm Kerby, co-coordinator of the Happisburgh based Coastal Concern Action Group, said: "People were comfortable with the fact the Environment Agency was protecting the back door, but now they are unable to do so. This will be disastrous over a period of time and will hugely compress the timescale of what would have happened otherwise. It is difficult to identify what the timescale is now, but the minute you stop doing what you have been doing, then the problems happen very quickly. That has been proved in Happisburgh."

Mr Kerby said the latest news fitted exactly into what he had been predicting. "This is part of what I said would always happen. The Government has decided on a policy of removing funding from the coast and is attempting to steamroller it through irrespective of what the people say. This may be the key that unlocks the support of the inland communities which felt they were not in danger."

North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb said: "In 1953 we lost lives when the sea came in, during one of the worst natural disasters this country has seen. Do we have to wait for another disaster before we learn the lesson? This is enormously significant for the future of Norfolk, it must be tackled head on." Mr Lamb said the decision "undermined" the multi-million pounds spent at Sea Palling in the past. "It is this kind of potential waste of public resources that drives people crazy about Government behaviour."

Steve Hayman, coastal manager at the Environment Agency, said: "I would not say we have a real problem at this point, but the beach is deteriorating. Another year and that deterioration is going to gather pace. The priority scoring system is geared to providing the majority of money to where most people are at risk. We do not do well out of this system. The lower the beach, the lower the level of protection for people and property behind these defences. The risk will get higher."

A Defra spokesman said last night: "The system of points has been designed to take into account risk of damage, risks to people and the benefits of the scheme. The system was formulated in discussion and co-operation with the operating authorities who are responsible for undertaking the schemes."

Comment: This all forms an interesting parallel to the tragic Louisiana and Mississippi inundation, where George Bush took away the money allocated to maintaining the levee banks and diverted it to prosecuting his war in the east. Interesting too that DEFRA by its "We can't support every single scheme" seem not to be aware that a chain is as strong as its weakest link. When the sea breaks through this area we shall lose the entire Broadland system and experience flooding up to twenty miles inland, as the riverine system is tidal right up to Norwich.

In 1938 and again in 1953 the sea broke through the sea defences that despite warnings, the government of the day had failed to maintain. That memory seems to be lost to the current administration. The next time, probably soon, the environmental, social and economic cost will be enormous, dwarfing that of America.

But this myopic stance taken by government is not new. It was all within the 'managed retreat' policy which we published six months ago on this website under 'Shoreline Management Plans' in the section devoted to Marine Aggregate Dredging.

New Zealand - Ironsand mining bid upsets iwi, 11th April 2005

The following article by Wayne Thompson, appeared in the New Zealand Herald   www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10119747

A bid to explore mineral-rich ironsand deposits along the west coast from Wanganui to the Kaipara Harbour has come under fire from iwi and environmental groups. Australian-based company Black Sand Exploration is seeking an exploration permit for 3617 sq km starting from the low-tide mark to 18km offshore. The application is being considered by the Crown Minerals Group in the Ministry of Energy.

Up to 40 hapu and iwi along that coast are being consulted under Treaty of Waitangi provisions, said Crown Minerals mining manager Rob Smillie. But public comment is not required, he said. The Crown Minerals Act made no provision for it because impact on the environment was not considered in assessing the application.

"We are not happy that the public are being shut out of the process at this stage," said Angeline Greensill, environmental spokeswoman for the Tainui hapu at Raglan and Maori Party candidate for Tainui. All people had a stake in what was happening, she said, and a packed public meeting in the Raglan Town Hall voted to oppose the exploration plan. "Our hapu does not have all the facts and we want to find out from Crown Minerals exactly what is proposed and the effect on the environment."

Mrs Greensill said Raglan beaches would become bedrock if the flow of sand stopped coming from the Taranaki coast where it had been deposited in volcanic eruptions. Some 25m of land on the Raglan coast had been lost to erosion, she said.

Environmental spokesmen for some of the coastal iwi expressed concern at the size of area and that the application became known just two months after the Foreshore and Sea Bed Act became law. The crown owns the minerals on the seabed and gives permits in return for royalties. "It seems amazing that the Government would entertain something like that," said Saul Roberts, of Te Kawerau o Maki.

Margaret Kawharu, of Ngati Whatua, said five marae in the south Kaipara area were to discuss the application. All comments she had heard were ones of dismay. She recalled how Maori and Pakeha at Muriwai had combined to defeat a 1991 application by an Australian mining company, Westland Ilmenite.

But Associate Energy Minister and New Plymouth MP Harry Duynhoven said he was becoming fed up with scare-mongering over the application. "It's outlandish to say they will be ripping up the seabed and leaving only the rock. We are not talking about mining - it's finding out what's there, not huge activity."

Mr Duynhoven said he had heard rumours that the applicant was a Chinese company. "It's not. The company is registered in Australia. It may well have some Chinese partners but are we getting xenophobic here? Black Sand is a subsidiary of Best Quality of Life Group, which is an Australian company. "First, let the company get on and explore it. They have to put up a package that's acceptable even to get the exploration licence," he said.

The company's New Zealand representative, Aaron Gilmore, of accountancy firm Ernst & Young, said he was too busy to talk to the Herald. Mr Smillie said the company was looking for titanomagnetite (magnetic iron oxide) concentrate.

If an exploration permit was granted, it would still have to get landowner permission for access and then approach councils for resource consent. At that stage the public could be heard on the environmental aspects.

Mr Smillie said exploration did not automatically lead to a mining permit and companies often did take a bid further after checking the economic return. He said the fitness of the applicant was being assessed and any iwi concerns addressed.

      Ironsand mining:

• Mineral-rich ironsand is mined at two North Island sites and used to produce iron and steel.
• Waikato North Head mine produces 1.2 million tonnes of sand a year to feed the Glenbrook Steel Mill, near Waiuku.
• Taharoa Mine, south of Kawhia, has since 1972 yielded up to 2 million tonnes of concentrate a year, which is shipped direct to north Asian mills.

New Zealand - 'Sand mined from Pakiri irreplaceable' 8th April 2005

Vanessa Reid - New Zealand Herald

Auckland City's recreation committee chairman, Scott Milne, says a $5 million beach rebuilding plan is gathering momentum. Where, however, does he hope to source the sand for the next eight Auckland beaches requiring replenishment?

Yes, the Pakiri-Mangawhai embayment is the nearest, and hence the most economical, area that the sand can be brought from to replenish Auckland's inner-city beaches. But when the Kohimarama replenishment is complete, no more sand should be taken from the Pakiri area.

"I am not opposed to the idea of replenishing beaches with sand for the public's good. Let's make Auckland look more attractive - but not to the detriment of the Pakiri and Mangawhai Beaches. Let's ensure a variety of sand sources for beach replenishment are used. There are simply too many demands being made on Pakiri-Mangawhai for it to be sustainable. This is an area that has had more than 30 years of inner-shore sand mining (0 to 25m water depth), totalling more than 2.3 million cu m, according to a 1998 study by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa). As well, there have been occasional outer-shore extractions, such as that which supplied Mission Bay in 1995."

Furthermore, in 1998 (in a decision being contested in the High Court), the Auckland Regional Council and the Minister of Conservation approved a sand-mining company's application to mine two million cu m from the outer shore over the next 20 years. Other companies are free to apply for further extraction rights. And to add insult to injury, the inner-shore sand-mining 10-year resource consents are up for renewal this year. They should be rejected by the regional council because of the visible erosion on Pakiri Beach, the loss of the near-shore bars and surfing breaks, and the dangerous nature of the beach because of the large number of severe rips and holes created by taking sand so near the shoreline.

The consent process is being held up because the sand-mining companies have failed to get adequate information to the regional council for their applications to be notified to the public. On these grounds alone, the regional council should dismiss their option to the sand because while indecision reigns, the inner-shore mining can (and, unsurprisingly, does) continue, even though February this year was the expiry date of the 10-year consent.

The Pakiri-Mangawhai embayment is a finite source of sand and is, therefore, a closed system. It was supplied by sediment when the Waikato River, on two occasions, came out at the Firth of Thames more than 20,000 years ago. Obviously this is no longer the case, so even at the outset it is an unsustainable source of sand. What is taken out will never be regained.

To quote from Niwa's 1998 Mangawhai-Pakiri sand study: "Sand extraction is not sustainable in a closed system in the long term because extraction will eventually deplete the resource to zero and/or cause beach erosion." And let's also be upfront about who these sand-mining companies are. They are not public benefactors working for our greater good; they are commercial entities, not friendly dredgers. The main use of the sand is for mixing into concrete. The beach replenishment programmes are, by volume, small jobs for them and good visible public relations exercises. In fact, all groups concerned with any beach replenishments stand to make a lot of money.

For the sake of those who live in the Pakiri-Mangawhai area and those who holiday and visit there, let's not allow it to be destroyed because there are not enough people to complain loudly enough. Is this another reason they continue to mine there? You don't see dredging off Omaha any more.

A solution could be to look to the naturally replenishing, open-sand system of the west coast where, near the Kaipara Harbour, the sands are fine-grain and golden. It is well documented that there is a "river of sand" running up this coast. We should start making the sand-mining companies move their sourcing and premises west. The east has had enough taken from it for the moment; it cannot sustain all these demands.

So Aucklanders who want to replenish Auckland's inner-city beaches in one to two years rather than 10 should think first of where this sand is to come from, and the disturbances to the delicate ecological systems of our dunelands and seabed when mining is done. Extreme caution in resource management planning is needed. Secondly, should all eight beaches be replenished in less than 10 years, they must not be sourced entirely from the Pakiri-Mangawhai embayment simply because it is the easiest to get to and most economical. Nor should the east coast-based sand-mining companies look towards Great Barrier Island. It is viewed as an ideal conservation area, as demonstrated by the purchase of adjacent Kaikoura Island.

The magnificent white stretches of sand on Great Barrier's beaches are within the same closed system as the Pakiri-Mangawhai embayment (their sand is also derived from the ancient Waikato River mouth near Thames) and are, therefore, a finite resource. We do, however, have the west coast, where the sand is a naturally replenishing resource. The latest Kaipara sand study should be released as soon as possible for public consumption so prudent resource management planning for our sand resources can be initiated. And, in line with this judicious planning, the inner-shore mining in the Pakiri-Mangawhai embayment should be halted once and for all.
* Vanessa Reid is an Auckland businesswoman whose family own land at Pakiri.

New Zealand - Gravel firm 'making erosion worse' 5th April 2005

Hawke's Bay Today - Marty Sharpe

Coastal erosion at Haumoana is made worse by gravel extraction by Winstones at Awatoto, according to a report before the Hawke's Bay Regional Council. The coastal settlement suffered severe coastal erosion last month and in April 2002, with houses being inundated or destroyed by waves on both occasions.

The report, by Tonkin and Taylor coastal engineer Richard Reinen-Hamill, says the beach between Cape Kidnappers and Napier is losing about 45,000 cubic metres of gravel a year to erosion. Most of that was going to Winstones, which takes gravel from the foreshore at Awatoto. Winstones takes about 47,800cu.m. a year from Awatoto and Napier City Council and the regional council take about 12,800cu m from Pacific Beach (for renourishment at Westshore), meaning about 15,600 cu.m. of gravel is being supplied to the coast from the Tukituki River and erosion of Cape Kidnappers. Scientific modelling shows "the effect of gravel extraction at Awatoto does extend to the south, potentially as far as Haumoana, but certainly to a point between the Ngaruroro outlet and the Hastings (sewage) outfall," the report says.

The findings will be welcome news to those Haumoana residents who last year opposed a resource consent application by Winstones to continue extracting 50,000 cu m of gravel a year from Awatoto. The Hawke's Bay Regional Council granted consent for just 30,000 cu.m a year - a decision that has been appealed by Winstones. The matter goes before the Environment Court in Napier on 3rd May. The report suggests that only between 24,400cu m and 48,000cu m should be taken from Awatoto and Pacific Beach - a view that Winstones will surely contest in court.

The regional council environmental manager Murray Buchanan said the council always suspected that gravel extraction from Awatoto was having an effect at Haumoana. "The council has always known there was a grain of truth in the concept, but proving it was a difficult kettle of fish," Mr Buchanan said. The report states that groynes do work on the coast, but may prevent gravel supply to the north. It also states that renourishment of the beach "may provide a solution".

Mr Buchanan, however, said the cost of renourishment - up $500,000 - made it an unlikely solution. "Hastings District Council and the regional council will have to work through all options on this coast," he said. "We believe we have a sound argument and if the court wanted to reduce the length of consent then council would accept that quite happily," Mr Buchanan said.

The report, to be discussed by regional councillors tomorrow, has been peer reviewed by coastal expert professor Paul Komar.

New Zealand - 'Council recommends dredging ends' 1st April 2005

Link to Article

The Auckland Regional Council is recommending that sand dredging at Pakiri beach, north of Auckland, comes to an end. Residents and landowners blame the dredging, which provides sand for New Zealand's booming building industry, for massive erosion at the beach. Locals insisted the dredging has caused erosion and was destroying the beach. "It was visible, tree roots showing, it was quite clear," says Nicholas Williams of Friends of Pakiri Beach.

Two dredging companies wanted to continue removing almost 80,000 cubic metres of sand from Pakiri every year for the next 20 years. The companies argued the dredging does not harm the environment but the council disagreed.

"There are other places that the building industry can extract the sand...this being a unique beach we felt we couldn't replace," Dianne Glenn of the Auckland Regional Council says. "This is a significant beach, it has a very wild character, and this is very unusual for an east coast beach in the East Coast region," says Glenn.

The two companies involved did not want to comment about the decision, but do have the opportunity to appeal it. "It's in everyone's interests that this stops...and we hope they don't appeal," says Williams. The conservation minister has four weeks to make his final decision on whether the dredging should continue.

A video film showing the erosion from offshore aggregate dredging at Pakiri Beach, Auckland, can be seen on http://tvnz.co.nz/view/video_popup_windows_skin/482813

Pat Gowen  5th April 2005

Indonesia - 'Coastline erosion a problem, says Regent' 28th June 2004

Jarkarta Post. www.thejakartapost.com

Regent Ismet Iskandar acknowledged over the weekend his office had yet to take any measures to stop continued erosion along the north coast of Tangerang. "We cannot stop the offshore sand mining; we have tried but to no avail. We need the central government to step in on this matter," he said.

He said his office had been able to stop companies based in Jakarta from mining sand on and near the shore. "But since they moved offshore we have been unable to stop their activities because our jurisdiction only extends 200 meters from the coastline."

Ismet added that a huge amount of money would be needed to curb the erosion, but most of the regency's annual budget had been allotted for roadwork.

Europe - 'Commission puts spotlight on coastal erosion' 17th May 2004

Helenic Resources Network, 17th May 2004 European Commission Spokesman's Briefing

Europe's coast is under growing threat from erosion. Coastal erosion is the gradual destruction of land by the sea. A fifth of the enlarged EU's coastline is already severely affected, with coastlines retreating by between 0.5 and 2 metres per year, and in a few dramatic cases even by 15 metres. These are some of the findings of the most comprehensive study on the problem of human-induced erosion ever done.

"Living with Coastal Erosion in Europe: Sediment and Space for Sustainability", which was commissioned by the European Commission. Coastal erosion has dramatic effects upon the environment and on human activity. It can make houses fall into the sea and destroy roads and other infrastructure. It threatens habitats of wildlife, the safety of people living at the coast, and economic activities such as tourism. It is largely caused by human activity in the form of intensive development and use of sand for construction and engineering purposes. Rising sea levels and increasingly frequent storms and floods have worsened the problem. To cope with it, new and sustainable forms of coastal management are needed. The results and recommendations of the study will feed into the EU's forthcoming "Thematic Strategy on Soil".

Ireland - '20% of coastline suffering erosion' 17th May 2004

A new survey has shown almost 20% of Ireland's coastline is suffering from serious erosion. The survey has shown Europe's coasts are retreating by up to two metres a year. Annual combined spending of more than €3bn is proving to have little effect against the onslaught of the sea.

The situation in Ireland sees 19.9% of coastline under attack from erosion. This compares with 17.3% in Britain, 24.9% in France and 28.6% in Greece.

The survey for the European Commission has found that a hundred million tonnes of sand that would naturally replenish Europe's coasts every year is used for construction or is trapped behind river dams or blocked by engineering works. The effect is to reduce the natural "buffer" against the powers of the sea.

Now governments and local authorities are being asked to implement legally binding EU Environmental Impact Assessment procedures by protecting coastal areas from dense housing and urbanisation.

Indonesia - 'Sand dredging endangers islets' 24th April 2004

Jakarta Post by Multa Fidris. www.thejakartapost.com

An environmentalist projected that three islands in the Banten Gulf will be submerged in the next four or five years due to ongoing offshore sand mining activity in Tirtayasa district, Serang regency, Banten province.

"If the sand mining activity continues, the populated Tarahan, Pamojan Besar and Pamojan Kecil islands will no longer exist in the near future," Rahadian, director of the Banten Earth Conservation Centre, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday. He claimed that Serang people had urged the administration to halt large-scale sand mining carried out by private company PT Jetsar and not to allow such activity to take place in the area. "But despite our demands, the regency administration will again issue a permit to another private company PT Bumi Ayu Tirtayasa to exploit the sea sand in the location," Rahadian remarked.

Quoting the survey results disclosed by the non-governmental organization, Rahadian said that the ongoing mining activity had severely damaged the environment along the coastline and had also raised social and economic problems for local residents. "Half of 60,000 fishponds of local residents are now non-productive because the seawater the farmers use to fill the ponds turned muddy," he said. The dredging also damaged the coral reefs and other marine life and changed the pattern of waves as well as the degree of water turbidity. "Sea waves will directly hit the base of the islands and therefore accelerate seawater intrusion and land abrasion," Rahadian explained.

The seawater eroded an average 100 meters of the five-kilometre coastline in Tirtayasa district over the past two years, when sand mining commenced, the residents said. "This football pitch was laid out far from the beach originally, but now it is right by the beach. Soon it will be submerged in the sea," Sahroni of Lontar village told the Post.

Separately, Banten Independent Community Studies Centre chairman Rosyadi said that his organization had repeatedly asked the regency administration to halt sand-mining activities in the gulf, but to no avail. "The company only contributes Rp 600 million (US$70,588) to the administration's revenue but the losses we all have to bear are incalculable," he said, crestfallen.

Dubai

The environmental group in the United States which monitors offshore dredging activity has put together a number of newspaper reports about an extraordinary project taking place in Dubai. This Arabian country is coming to the end of its oil reserves and, in an attempt to diversify its economy, has embarked on a remarkable construction project which makes use of dredged marine material resulting from the construction of a new airport. This construction project is Palm Islands - two artificial islands constructed in the shape of a palm tree which will serve as the basis for a huge tourist-based development project.

It is interesting to observe that the UK and the USA are not alone in dredging the seabed and using the material gained there from to supply its construction industry (the dredging company is Van Oord, which has major contracts in UK coastal waters). However this project in Dubai is quite extraordinary, and apparently being undertaken with no proper environmental impact assessment. For details go to www.vanoord.com