As Griffiths explained, in a couple of years, without new licences, the industry in the UK will be in what he called 'a serious state, ' unless applications for licences in the Eastern Channel that are currently being assessed are granted.

The first 2-3 applications are due to be approved - or turned down - by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) in early 2004, much work having already been down on extensive Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) of the proposed licences.

All applications for new licences need to go through this process with the Department of the Environment, Food & Regional Affairs (DEFRA) before they are sent to the ODPM for consideration.

Griffiths said he believed that the first application for a licence in the Eastern Channel was submitted by Volker Dredging, with others submitted by well known aggregates dredgers such as Hanson Aggregates, RMC and UMD.

Griffiths said BMAPA is fairly confident that the ODPM will approve the licences because the applications have already been through the EIA process at DEFRA and many modifications to the original applications been made.

Although the quantity of aggregates in the Eastern Channel is believed to be huge - in the order of half a billion tonnes of gravel - the overall amount dredged in British waters once the licences are approved is not expected to rise dramatically, at least in the short term.

However, as Griffiths explained, once licences are awarded, changes can be expected in the make up of the fleet of dredgers operated by the well known aggregates producers.

Typically, an aggregates dredger might have a 30 year operating life, but with the average age of the UK fleet at about 17-18 years, some dredgers are obviously close to becoming obsolete and will replaced by new, more efficient, economically viable units once the new licences have been secured.

In a comprehensive regional environmental assessment (REA) addressing the impact of dredging for aggregates in the Eastern Channel, aggregates producers warned that existing reserves, on which supplies to London and the south east depend, were 'dwindling', and has identified the deeper waters of the eastern English Channel as the potential long-term replacement of these reserves.

Six operators commissioned the REA to test the cumulative impacts of aggregates extraction in the area, having formed the East Channel Association (ECA) to fund the work. Copies of the 160-page REA were sent to over 100 stakeholders and the ODPM, a non-technical summary also being made available at www. eastchannel. info. The members of ECA are: Britannia Aggregates Ltd, Dredging International (UK) Ltd, Hanson Aggregates Marine Ltd, RMC Marine Ltd, United Marine Dredging Ltd, Volker Dredging Ltd.

The dredging licence applications submitted by the producers seek permission to extract sand and gravel for initial 15-year periods from part of the eastern English Channel, some 20 miles off the Sussex coastline.

Speaking at the time that the REA was published, ECA spokesman Dr Andrew Bellamy said: 'Without new reserves of marine sand and gravel we cannot continue to supply the needs of London and the South East at the present rate or to maintain our contribution to coastal protection.

Ultimately, either land-based quarrying in the south-east would have to increase by 70 per cent or more aggregate would need to be imported from other regions.'

Based on current demand, ECA members envisage initially extracting a total of 8.5 million tonnes a year from the 15-year licences. A higher production level of up to 17 million tonnes is also tested in the REA to account for increases in construction or coastal defence demand in the years ahead, or a shift in Government policy away from land-based aggregates in favour of marine.

The 8.5 million tonnes annually would come from a 15-year total of 50 square kilometres (19 square miles).

However, in any one year the seabed area typically dredged would be only 10 square kilometres (four square miles).

Dr Bellamy added: 'The regional environmental assessment has thoroughly tested the cumulative effects of all the dredging applications in the region, and we can now say with confidence that these would be minor given our pledge to minimise the area dredged and to research and monitor the effects of dredging.'

The independently-prepared assessment looks in particular at the potential impact on marine life, which would be affected by both direct dredging of the seabed and by sand rejected back to the seabed from the dredgers.

This would be unlikely to affect opportunistic feeders such as herring, bass, sole, cod, plaice, crabs and lobsters which would move elsewhere. It would, however, impact on the less mobile species such as scallops and potentially on herring spawn which are likely to be more vulnerable to the rejected sediment. For these reasons, a number of mitigation measures are set out in the REA.

Based on studies elsewhere, full recovery of communities needed to support the fish populations is expected to take four to six years. Some important prey species, such as polychaete worms, should recover partly within six months and fully within two years.

The ECA's dredging management plan includes several measures designed to reduce impact and encourage recovery of marine life. These include a commitment to minimise the area dredged at any time by working in zones with buffers between to aid re-colonisation. Such zones would be planned to avoid sensitive areas at key times and fishermen would be provided with dredging plans well in advance.

The ECA has also committed to a charter guaranteeing that each company would implement the REA's provisions and the ensuing studies and research that it recommends. There is also a firm commitment to close liaison with other stakeholders and to making data available publicly.

The Crown Estate, in its role as landowner of the UK territorial seabed, granted prospecting rights following a competitive tendering process.

The industry currently produces some 23 million tonnes of sand and gravel each year and expects demand to remain at about the same level in the foreseeable future. On this basis, it would need to draw about 8.5 million tonnes-a-year from the eastern Channel. The proposed licences cover a total of 226 square kilometres (87 square miles), the proposed maximum total dredging area over 15 years would be 117 square kilometres (45 square miles).

This represents just 0.49 per cent of the total area of seabed in the region, stretching from the Isle of Wight to the Dover Straits, but the whole of the permitted area would not be dredged at once. The industry manages the resource - and cooperates with fishermen and other users of the sea - by dividing each of its licence areas into working zones.

In a typical year, only about 10 square kilometres (four square miles) would be dredged.

Currently, the industry draws 90 per cent of its needs nationally in its existing licences from 12 square kilometres (less than five square miles) With satellite navigation ensuring dredging accuracy to within five metres and 'spy in the cab' technology recording both positioning and tonnages extracted, the industry operates under close controls.