Aggregate extraction from tidal sandbanks: is dredging with nature an option?: introduction

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