Information for industry

Pre application stage advice

Upon instruction from the regulator (Marine & Fisheries Agency (MFA) or Welsh Assembly Government (WAG)), Cefas will provide advice to an applicant on aspects of their Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) produced to support an application for a Permission to dredge marine minerals under “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. This advice will be provided in our capacity as technical advisor to the relevant regulator. Our role at the pre-application stage is that of Government Scientific advisor and as such we have a direct relationship with the MFA / WAG to whom all fees associated with marine mineral extraction applications are paid. Cefas do not enter into any form of contractual or informal agreement with applicants or their representatives.

Applicants can expect Cefas to advise them and their appointed advisors upon survey methodologies, assessment of impacts made in the EIA, monitoring, mitigation and licence conditions pertinent to fish and fisheries resources, benthic ecology, habitats and resources and physical science including sediment transport and coastal processes (including impacts to the coast).

The purpose of our advice at the pre-application stage is to ensure all necessary detailed work to support the formal application stage of marine minerals dredging permission applications is undertaken, thereby facilitating a rapid regulatory decision at this later stage. As such 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;
• ensure predicted impacts are suitably monitored and appropriate and proportional mitigation is enacted;
• ensure that the above are undertaken in advance of submission of an application for a formal decision.

Service standards - Pre-application advice

Pre-application advice will be provided, based on information supplied by applicants and their advisors, throughout the pre-application process. As all applications to extract marine minerals are different and have their own complexities, the level of input from Cefas will be appropriate to the nature of the application. As such, in some cases our involvement may be considerably more than in others. Nevertheless, once instructed to do so by the regulator, Cefas will provide applicants with all the advice reasonably required throughout the entirety of the pre-application process for each application.

Pre-application advice from Cefas includes:

• input from our specialists in the fields of benthic ecology, coastal processes, fish resources and regulatory affairs as necessary;
• relevant Cefas staff meeting with applicants and their advisors as appropriate;
• advice on survey requirements and methodologies based on proposals made by applicants;
• advice and comments on documents submitted by applicants;
• response to ad-hoc technical queries from applicants;
• advice on mitigation measures;
• advice on monitoring;
• advice on conditions;
• liaison with other regulatory bodies as necessary

It is important to note that the advice is provided in our context as technical advisor to MFA and the responsibility of undertaking a thorough environmental assessment, together with design of suitable monitoring programmes and mitigation remains with the applicant. Whilst Cefas advice during the pre-application stage is not binding and provided as guidance to applicants, applicants can expect Cefas to advise the regulator of the same issues during later stages of the application process.

Cefas offer a professional service and as such applicants will be designated a Cefas case officer who, under normal circumstances, will deal with their pre-application advice throughout and act as a central point of contact, drawing upon relevant expertise within the organisation as appropriate to the case. All Cefas advice at the pre-application stage shall be undertaken through the case officer. Should a case officer be unavailable (due to leave of absence or illness) when contacted, applicants will be informed when the case officer will be back or provided with an alternative point of contact. Our normal office hours are 0900 to 1700, Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays) and case officers will be available during these periods.

Whilst the pre-application stage of an application to extract marine minerals carries no statutory time scale, the following sets out the timescales applicants can expect Cefas to work to during this phase of their application.

We will work within the following maximum time scales, but we will respond sooner where possible:

Case officers will advise applicants or their advisors at the earliest opportunity of any deviation to these timescales (providing both an explanation and a revised timescale) and on any issues not covered by this above list.

Requests for meetings or discussions on specific issues will be dealt with on an individual basis to ensure the most appropriate members of staff can be available and the application is therefore dealt with in the most effective way possible. As such, any requests for meetings should always be directed through the case officer in the first instance. We will provide date options for meetings within 2 weeks (10 working days) of the request being received. Urgent meetings can be accommodated by use of our meeting rooms in Lowestoft or dedicated Video Conferencing facilities.

It is important to note that if surveys are to be undertaken in advance of formal scoping, agreement on their nature and scope should be sought with Cefas. Failure to do this may require additional surveys to be commissioned should the baseline surveys be considered inadequate on submission of the formal application.

Should an applicant have any concerns with the way their application is being dealt with, or any concerns regarding the service of Cefas, they should discuss this with the case officer in the first instance. Should they wish to take the matter further, the case officer will provide the contact details of a senior officer who will investigate the matter further. In addition, please see the full Cefas complaints procedure for more information. If these discussions fail to adequately resolve the concerns, applicants should discuss the matter with the regulator (Marine & Fisheries Agency (MFA) or Welsh Assembly Government (WAG)). The Cefas case officer will provide appropriate contact details upon request.

Finally, the above information is designed to provide a brief summary of Cefas’ responsibilities with respect to the pre-application and subsequent phases of the environmental assessment process.  However, it is not intended to provide definitive guidance or be a substitute for appropriate consultation with Cefas case officers at critical stages in the environmental assessment process.  This is especially true at the initial design stage of a scoping study or environmental survey, when Cefas advice and guidance will be adapted to meet the circumstances prevailing at individual sites.

For further information on Cefas’ pre-application advice please contact marineaggregates@cefas.co.uk or telephone (01621) 787283.

Further information on “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” can be found on the MFA (www.mfa.gov.uk) and WAG (www.wales.gov.uk) websites respectively. 

Electronic Monitoring System

Under "The Environmental Impact Assessment and Natural Habitats (Extraction of Minerals by Marine Dredging) (England and Northern Ireland) Regulations 2007" and "The Environmental Impact Assessment and Natural Habitats (Extraction of Minerals by Marine Dredging) (Wales) Regulations 2007", Cefas are tasked by both MFA and WAG to provide information supplied by the Electronic Monitoring System (EMS) required to be installed on all vessels dredging for marine minerals in British waters.

We provide data to the regulatory authorities based on automatic collection of information from the EMS equipment installed on dredging vessels and report any identified discrepancies to the relevant regulator. The Crown Estate continue to monitor EMS data for their own purposes and provide a "helpdesk" facility for EMS operators.

Cefas do not undertake investigation or enforcement activities on behalf of the regulatory authorities. As such the Cefas role is very much behind the scenes and industry should not expect to hear directly from Cefas regarding EMS. However, should a company recognise there may have been a specific out of area dredging incident and wish to make Cefas aware, an email with supporting information may be sent, marked for the attention of the "EMS Manager" to ems@cefas.co.uk.

For further information or general queries regarding Cefas' role in the EMS please contact marineaggregates@cefas.co.uk.