The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) campaigns for the sustainable and sensitive use and management of marine resources within environmental limits. Marine aggregates are a finite non-renewable resource and their extraction requires particularly careful planning and management to prevent over exploitation of this finite resource and to avoid damage to sensitive and important habitats and species.
 
Marine aggregates supply over 20 million tonnes and 21% of the demand for sand and gravel for use in construction and beach renourishment schemes. The extraction of aggregates can have significant impacts on marine benthic communities through removal of gravel and cobble substrate and sedimentation.  As well as ecological impacts, aggregate extraction can impact upon commercial fisheries, and on coastal processes potentially resulting in erosion.
 
MCS aims to promote measures which ensure that marine aggregate extraction is kept within environmental limits and avoids impacts on ecologically important and protected areas.  These include:

• Strategic Environmental Assessment of minerals policy and plans including marine aggregates.
• A marine spatial planning system to identify areas appropriate for dredging and other activities and those areas where important habitats and species require protection.
• Exploration of viable alternatives to marine aggregates, such as re-use, recovery and recycling of aggregates.

MCS informs and influences the development of UK policy and individual marine aggregate projects by responding to consultations, issuing press releases and engaging with a wide range of stakeholders.
 
Copies of consultation responses and statements can be downloaded from the MCS Policy page

A Sea View briefing paper on aggregates will be published later in the year