• Aggregates and dredging
  • Service standards
  • Electronic Monitoring System
• Fisheries Science Partnership
• Offshore Chemical Notification Scheme
• Returning tagged fish and shellfish

Related links

• Marine Management Organisation
• Welsh Assembly Government

Aggregates and dredging

Pre-application advice

As technical advisor to the regulator - either the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) or the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) - Cefas provides advice on Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs). These are commonly produced to support a request for permission to dredge marine minerals.

All advice will be related to the Environmental Impact Assessment and Natural Habitats (Extraction of Minerals by Marine Dredging) (England and Northern Ireland) Regulations 2007 or the Environmental Impact Assessment and Natural Habitats (Extraction of Minerals by Marine Dredging) (Wales) Regulations 2007 respectively.

Our role at this pre-application stage is that of government scientific advisor. All fees associated with marine mineral-extraction applications are paid to the MMO /WAG. We do not enter into any form of contractual or informal agreement with applicants or their representatives.

We advise on:

• survey methodologies
• assessment of impacts made in the EIA
• monitoring
• mitigation and licence conditions
• benthic ecology
• habitats and resources
• physical science including sediment transport and coastal processes (including impacts to the coast).

The purpose of our advice at this stage is to ensure all necessary detailed work to support the formal application for marine-minerals dredging is undertaken, helping towards a quick decision.

In summary, our pre-application advice is intended to ensure:

• applicants have supported all conclusions and assessments of impact made within an application to extract marine minerals with an adequate evidence base
• predicted impacts are suitably monitored, and appropriate and proportional mitigation is enacted
• that the above are undertaken in advance of submission of an application for a formal decision.

All advice is provided in our context as technical advisor to MMO/WAG.  The responsibility for undertaking a thorough environmental assessment, including suitable monitoring programmes and mitigation, remains with the applicant.

Advice given during the pre-application stage is not binding but provided as guidance to applicants. As part of the process, we will advise the regulator of the same issues during later stages of the application.