News Story

U.S. Representative Dr. Shafer to Chair Working Group 157 ‘Environmental Aspects of Dredging and Port and Waterway Construction around Coastal Habitats'

The kick-off meeting of PIANC Working Group 157 was held 2 February 2012 in Brussels, Belgium. To fill the information gaps about the relationship between dredging and port construction and the health of productive coastal habitats, PIANC Environmental Committee (Envicom) decided to form a working group of international experts. The group is chaired by Deborah Shafer, a Research Marine Biologist at the Corps of Engineer Research and Development Center and Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

The task of the Working Group is:

• to collect available literature and ‘good practice' case studies from dredging and port construction around coastal plant habitats and their associated communities,
• to analyse the information,
• to provide a concise report with guidelines based on the actual knowledge of the effects of dredging and port construction activities and methods/techniques to minimize impacts on coastal ecosystems and/or to benefit from these (win-win-situation).

The report should be designed for use by a broad spectrum of stakeholders interested in sustainable coastal and marine resource management and both the sustainability of coastal vegetation and dredging, port construction, and related activities, including port authorities, regulatory agencies, the construction and dredging industry, and non-governmental organizations such as environmentalists and private sector consultancies. The relevance of the report for countries in transition should be considered.

Members of the working group are: Daniel Leggett (DEME Belgium), Björn Gäbe (Water and Shipping Agency Wilhelmshaven Germany), Ulrich Kraus (Bremenport, Germany), Paul Erftemeijer (Sinclair Knight Merz Australia), Jasper Dijkstra (Deltares The Netherlands), Deborah Shafer (USACE United States), Daniel Rodríguez - Borlado Jiménez (HIDTMA Spain), Aina Garcia Gómez (University of Cantabria Spain), John C. Henriksen (Manson Construction United States), Matt Jury (DHI Singapore, on behalf CEDA), Tom Foster (DHI Singapore, on behalf IADC), David Johnson (OSPAR London) Emily Corcoran (OSPAR London). The next meeting of the working group is planned for August 2012. The working group is expected to finalize its work within 2 years.

(POC: Jasper Dijkstra)

revised 31 March 2012