Aggregate extraction: A review on the effect of ecological functions

The expected major increase in marine aggregate extraction in the future will increase the spatial and temporal environmental impacts. Coastal zone management and interdisciplinary surveys and assessments will become increasingly important in order to minimise impacts of largescale sand mining on marine resources and to resolve conflicts against other legitimate uses of the coastal zone. Use of Ecological Quality Objectives as a management tool of human impacts on marine ecosystems is adopted by OSPAR (Skjoldal et al., 1999). The feasibility of this approach in relation to assessment and management of aggregate extraction is currently explored by ICES and the Working Group on the Effects of Extraction of Marine Sediments on Marine Ecosystem (WGEXT) is expected to submit a report in 2005 including this issue (ICES, 2003). This inventory addresses the following topics, which are of relevance for assessment and management of ecological effects of largescale sand mining: · Physical and chemical effects of aggregate extraction · Ecological effects of aggregate extraction · Guidelines for assessment and management of marine sediment extractionSandpi