Agreement with Welsh Assembly Government signed

Cefas recently signed an agreement with the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) to provide advice on marine aggregate extraction in waters around the Welsh coastline. 

Marine aggregates provide high-quality raw materials for both the construction industry and for coastal protection. 

Since the 1960s Cefas has been providing scientific scrutiny of applications made to extract marine aggregates in England and Wales. The agreement with WAG formalises Cefas' relationship with decision-makers in Wales. 

David Carlin, a member of Cefas' Regulatory Assessment Team and the officer directly responsible for brokering the agreement, said: "I am very pleased to be formalising our agreement with the Welsh Assembly Government, to provide scientific advice on marine aggregate extraction and to work more widely with a variety of stakeholders in Wales.

"The relationship will allow us to directly feed the outputs of cutting-edge science into the decision-making process to contribute toward the sustainable management of the Welsh seabed." 

Cefas is the UK's largest and most diverse applied marine science agency. As such it is well placed to review the various steps of the marine aggregates extraction application process. The objective of that process is to ensure the sustainable use of the marine environment and its resources. 

A "weight of evidence approach" is used by Cefas, encompassing knowledge and skills from a wide range of scientific disciplines in order to assess licensing applications. Developers are expected to cover every key issue in detail and to show their applications are supported by strong scientific evidence. 

Cefas provides management advice based on the scrutiny of monitoring reports, which are generated through the operation of marine aggregate licenses. Cefas also makes recommendations about licensing conditions, monitoring or mitigation.

With this support from Cefas, WAG is enabled to make informed, evidence-based decisions that affect the waters off the Welsh coast. 

Dredging for marine aggregates happens alongside a range of other marine uses, such as fishing, shipping, energy supply and recreation. Consequently marine authorities need to balance these human impacts and requirements with environmental imperatives for clean, healthy and bio-diverse seas.