This publication provides a twenty-year overview of an initiative launched in 1999 as a means of reporting the dredging footprint of the UK marine aggregate industry. It reflects the commitment by members of the British Marine Aggregate Producers Association and The Crown Estate to review both dredging activity and licence areas on an annual basis, and to surrender those areas no longer containing economic sand and gravel resources. Over two decades, the ‘Area Involved’ initiative has generated high-quality, high resolution data analysis which provides valuable environmental performance indicators for the marine aggregate sector. The reporting of dredging activity is made possible by an Electronic Monitoring System, developed by The Crown Estate and industry, and required on all vessels dredging in GB licensed areas. The review reports data and highlights trends across three key indicators:
- Area of seabed licensed – focusing not just on changes to the area but also on the location of licences.
- Area of seabed dredged – assessing the area actually dredged and the distribution of dredging effort.
- Cumulative dredge footprint – the overall footprint gives an indication of the scale and intensity of dredging effort over a long term period.
Technological advances have enabled the industry to develop a better understanding of its licensed resources which in turn has allowed the spatial footprint of its activities to be managed more efficiently. As a consequence, the overall reduction in both the area of seabed licensed and the area of seabed dredged over the period 1998-2017 has helped to minimise the environmental footprint of the sector’s operations. This approach has also allowed the industry to limit the potential for spatial conflicts with other marine users, providing valuable evidence to help inform the development and implementation of marine planning.