One of the quality beaches potentially under threat.
SAS Campaign Director enjoying some good sand banks at St Agnes
Should You Be Dreading The Dredge
Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) is calling on communities in North Cornwall to submit opinions on a massive and potentially devastating coastal dredging proposal. Marine Minerals Limited are applying for a licence to remove millions of tonnes of sediment from North Cornwall’s sea bed as little as 200 meters offshore at some of Cornwall’s premier beaches, including; St Ives Bay, Porthtowan, St Agnes & Perranporth.
If you have any concerns about this proposal, please register them with the Marine Management Organisation by Friday, 8th February. Marine.consents@marinemanagement.org.uk
SAS first raised concerns about this issue when the new Protect Our Waves petition was launched in August 2012. http://www.protectourwaves.org.uk/case-studies.php There are many potential adverse impacts associated with a proposal of this type, but SAS is especially concerned about threats to vital coastal processes, the marine environment, marine wildlife and local surfing resources. The North Cornish coastline is a valuable natural environment, already supporting thousands of jobs and generating millions of pounds for the region. Surfing alone brings in £64 million to Cornwall’s economy and supports 1,600 full time jobs.
The dredging proposal targets tin reserves stored in the sand, washed out from Cornwall’s historic mining activity. The dredging areas Marine Minerals Limited has identified are also some of Cornwall’s premier beach resorts. The proposal requests permission to dredge as close as 200 meters from the shore. Several millions of tonnes of sediment will be removed, with approximately 5% of the sediment refined for further use and the remaining 95% returned to the sea floor.
Throughout the licencing application the MMO has an obligation to identify the potential worst-case scenario. SAS are contacting the MMO and listing the following concerns.
Coastal Processes:
Removing and replacing several millions of tonnes of sediment has the potential to disrupting the natural build-up of sediment. This sediment plays a vital role in encouraging waves to break offshore, dissipating the majority of the wave’s energy before the waves reach the shore.
Disrupting the sediment could also impact on sand levels in the intertidal zones and above the high tide line at the beach. This could significantly reduce the quality of surfing waves and impair the beach experience for local residents and tourists.
Reanimating pollutants:
Disrupting the sediment around the river mouths at St Ives Bay, Porthtowan, St Agnes and Perranporth could also reanimate pathogens associated with Combined Sewer Overflow discharges and heavy metals used in mining. These could have serious impacts on the health of water users and the wider environment
Flora and fauna:
Removing millions of tons of sediment, processing it, then dumping it back on the seafloor it will impact biodiversity in the area. The species potentially at risk include seals, sharks, dolphins, crustaceans (crabs, lobsters etc.), sea fans and many more. They all play important roles in regulating our marine environment and support wildlife watching eco-tourism and diving. The special flora and fauna obviously support the important fishing economy, culturally important to the region.
SAS Campaign Director Andy Cummins says: “Disturbing and removing significant amounts of sediment from the North Cornish coast has the potential to devastate the fragile and complex environments that support surfing, tourism and fishing. SAS are raising these concerns and will continue to engage through the licencing application and we urge any interested parties to do the same.”
SAS will continue to consult on the proposal and ensure that surfers, waveriders and coastal communities are represented throughout the licencing process. You can support SAS’s concerns on this dredging proposal by signing the Protect Our Waves petition at www.protectourwaves.org.uk
Read SAS’s scoping opinion response here.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2013 at 11:25 am and is filed under Campaigns, Coastal Development, News, Protect Our Waves. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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dont allow the dredging!!!!
Hi, most of our visitors don’t surf – but do enjoy the beaches here in Cornwall.
Our daughter’s are learning to surf…. Why has this come to light so close to the license agree date – if I’m correct in that thinking. I heard about it this morning on the radio and Friday is relevant……
Will there be a protest – is the license a done deal?
Other countries have banned this process.
How do we stop it before it starts?
Be glad to hear your thoughts,
Sarah.
Don’t even think about dredging our seas, what will happen to the Eco systems, the seabed is so beautiful, release of arsenic. No thank you.
This doesn’t sound good to me. Sure obtaining minerals may be a money winner but there seems to be huge repercussions some of which we can’t predict. Our coastlines are precious should we risk them to this scheme???
Its amazing to think this is even being considered. Its no secret how much nasty stuff there is in the mining waste.
As a regular diver on the north coast I see just how clean and beautiful the under water world is.
The golden sands you see on the beaches extend right out to sea, so any ‘ dredging’ would without doubt ruin this enviroment. Having dived on the south coast and seen what happens with dredging, the silt and reduced visabillity, must, and does impact on under sea life.
This has the potential to ruin three or four beaches vital to tourists and locals alike.
The Cornish economy is one of the most fragile in the country, job opportunities are scarce and limited, and the surf and associated industries provide some hundreds of full and part-time posts. Do not put these jobs and tourism income at risk. Metal prices are extremely volatile and there are very many and far more lucrative sites elswhere.
This is just another case that proves money is more important than the wellbeing of yhe planet and its wildlife. What a joke!! What councilor is getting the financial kickback this time?? Its a joke!!!!
After following this for some time, I have been left thinking about how disappointed this has left me. Having lived in Cornwall all my life I have always had very close connection to the beaches and oceans of this beautiful county.
Having this connection has left what felt like and inherited resposabilerty to look after this precious environment I live in. I remember during the summer months forever finding beer cans and all sorts of rubbish dug in the sand out of sight or even just left for children to walk-on, and even back then I was amazed at how idle and selfish people where that they could just not care about looking after somewhere beautiful and realising how lucky they where to be there.
But as time has gone on rather then being amazed at people being so lazy that they leave rubbish behind them. I’ almost speechless at what lengths people will go to, to make short-term financial gains
So the latest situation to rendered also most speechless is now people are willing to destroy a part of this beautiful county by dredging the north coast you threaten to destroy so much more then just an eco system you will destroy a community of surfers who encourage other people to come and enjoy this beautiful activity and would engorge people to live healthier and fitter in the pursuit of becoming more competent on our beautiful Cornish waves.
Also this massively threatens toriseum around some prime Cornish attractions could have a knock affect for jobs, and the last thing young Cornish families need at the moment is less jobs.
My point is we all have a responsibility to look after our environment and in Cornwall we tend to take this more seriously then other places because we are surrounded be such beauty. However there are always going to people that care more for profit rather then a beautiful environment. But what are we leaving for the next generation at what point do we say “Hold on I know this is going to make us a lot of money, but is it worth distorting more of this envoirment”
At what point do we stop and say hold on lets truly look after what we have lets forget about destroying the environment for sort term gains and lets look at preserving the eco systems around our north coast and preserving its beauty and it’s waves for our children and to allow other people to see how lucky we are that we live in a society how cares and loves there surroundings enough to save them form greed.
So by not dredging the north coast would make more profit and would be more beneficial to the local communities in the long term rather then a few businessmen and a few councillors finding the reward in the short destructive term.
This is really bad. Thanks for highlighting this in the latest Pipleline – I am sure like me that many people were just unaware of what is happening.
I think the points you have raised against this are good and we must support SAS in this important campaign.
All I would add is that SAS are playing at home this time and that should give us a big advantage. I’m sure there are many people who will rally behind you on this one. This is such a clear cut issue I really think you should as a matter of urgency try to directly mobilise the surfing community to make a big noise about this and not just rely on objecting the licensing process. This has to be a “must win” for SAS.
DON’T DREDGE MY WAVE!
Hi Bryan,
Thanks for your comments, we value your support and our Dredging opposition will be an integral part of our POW petition drive this spring and summer. Watch this space for breaking POW news this week.
SAS