Report of the Working Group on the Effects of Extraction of Marine Sediments on the Marine Ecosystem (WGEXT) 16–20 April 2012 Rouen, France

The Working Group on the effects of extraction of marine sediments on the marine ecosystem (WGEXT) met in Rouen, France between 16 and 20 April 2012. Twelve par-ticipants from six ICES member countries attended the meeting. The objective of WGEXT is to provide a summary of data on marine sediment extrac-tion, marine resource and habitat mapping, changes to the legal regime, and research projects relevant to the assessment of environmental effects. A continued decline in amounts of extracted marine sediments across member coun-tries was identified by WGEXT although this was not the case for each country re-porting data. Similarly to previous years, no significant changes to the policies and procedures for managing marine sediment extraction were reported, with the excep-tion of the UK where the Marine and Coastal Access Act and its implications for ma-rine sediment extraction were discussed. Research into the impacts and effects of marine sediment extraction continued across member countries and a mix of na-tional/ regional focussed and multi-national programmes exist. Reports were reviewed from 12 (of 21) member countries. Although 11 member coun-tries did not provide reports, the available data is thought to provide a representative assessment of the overall total of material extracted from the member states