Marine aggregates are an important resource for England and Wales, and there is a long history of marine aggregate extraction in our waters.
Management of natural resources
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) were approached by delegates from South Korea as they were interested in learning more about the management of our natural resources.
On 27 June 2017, Matthew Kinmond and Jenny Ford from Marine Licensing and Mark Herbert and James Lawson from Marine Planning met with the delegates from South Korea at Lancaster House. They were involved in a project on the island of Jeju.
This is a volcanic island which has a lack of aggregate resources. They are currently importing 2.75billion m³ to meet current demand, which has doubled the price of aggregate.
Lessons learned
After an insightful presentation from the South Koreans, the MMO explained the Marine Planning process, with a focus on aggregate policies. This was followed by a presentation on Marine Licensing, covering the regulatory processes.
We shared lessons learned from managing conflicts between stakeholders. The delegation party also spent time with the British Geological Survey and The Crown Estate, before visiting several European countries to learn about their processes.
This was an interesting visit for all involved, and we welcomed the opportunity to share our expertise of regulating and planning offshore activities.
2 comments
Comment by Jonathan Williams, MSE posted on
Thanks for this update on a potentially interesting dialogue with the South Koreans. From a business perspective, we would be interested to develop the dialogue towards the environmental monitoring and surveillance requirements. The UK has substantial capability in these areas, which we would be keen to convert into sales and collaborative innovation activities. Please advise if MMO could leverage such activity, perhaps with BEIS and DEFRA/CEFAS involvement.
Comment by carlharvey posted on
Thanks for your comment Jonathan - this isn't in the MMO's remit currently. If you're interested in opportunities to work with overseas nations we'd suggest the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or BEIS might be good places to start.