Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Regional Compliance Monitoring
A marine aggregate industry
perspective
Mark Russell
Director, British Marine Aggregate Producers
Association
When you know there is a wave coming…
You can position yourselves to take advantage…
Or not…!
Why a regional approach?
• Common drivers – three consenting phases for existing activities since 2008
• Distribution of industry interests meant common EIA issues to address – delivered through voluntary MAREAs
• Common benefits to operators - saves time & effort - saves cost - delivers a consistent outcome
• Similar benefits to regulators & advisors – best use of resources
By the end of 2014, this approach supported delivery of >100 consents
Context to regional monitoring
• Moving from a position where most historic licences didn’t have monitoring requirements to a position where every licence has a minimum requirement
• Cost implications – increased cost per tonne dredged (commodity price doesn’t change, monitoring simply adds to the cost base)
• Time/effort implications – to deliver the requirements in the right way and at the right time
• Capacity implications – across operators, regulators, advisors and contractors
Re-licensing programme provided an opportunity for change
Shift in monitoring rationale• Historic monitoring simply described impacts of extraction
on benthos & sediment: physical disturbance effect – primary (removal) and secondary (plume/sedimentation)
• Research & evidence identified the condition of seabed sediments post-extraction as the key variable for successful faunal recovery
• Focus shifting to monitoring seabed sediments (PSD) to ensure similar conditions maintained – development partnership funded (Defra/MMO/TCE/industry)
• Acceptable Change Limits (ACL) defined for individual licences (based on PSD ranges of faunal assemblages) – more appropriate for compliance & management & more cost-effective
Definition of ACL requires regional data
Change in means of delivery• Five RSMP surveys are currently
underway
• Deliver regional sediment/benthic baseline data for over 60 licence/application areas
• Growing recognition of the advantages of a joined up approach – tangible benefits
• But it can be complicated, both from a regulatory/compliance viewpoint but also in terms of practical delivery
• Growing confidence from the experience through ‘learning by doing’.
The next steps...
• Develop standard specification and programme for all common survey/ reporting obligations throughout licence term (not just seabed sediments)
• To realise its potential at a regional scale it will require some flexibility – both from operators, but also from regulators & advisors
• Root & branch review or half-way house solution? Existing conditions/ timings make it more complicated – not starting from scratch as per RSMP
• There are challenges, but equally there are enormous benefits to be realised for all – particularly in the long term (15-30 years+)
Summary
A regional approach to monitoring has the potential to enable the
delivery of more cost effective and consistent compliance data and
therefore support better regulation
• Better for operators
• Better for regulators
• Better for statutory advisors
While not simple, where common benefits are identified the
collective risks of developing new approaches can be shared
For further information on regional monitoring:
Key references for the RSMP:
Cooper, K.M., 2012. Setting limits for acceptable change in sediment particle size composition following marine aggregate dredging. Marine Pollution Bulletin 64, 1667 - 1677.
Cooper, K.M., 2013. Setting limits for acceptable change in sediment particle size composition: testing a new approach to managing marine aggregate dredging? Marine Pollution Bulletin 73, 86 – 97.
Cooper, K.M., 2013. Marine aggregate dredging: a new regional approach to environmental monitoring. PhD Thesis. University of East Anglia: UK.
