Beach no urishm ent and the im pact on Natura 2000
Vanden Eede Sarah1, Michiei Sm its', Annelies Bolle', H endrik Schoukens2, Tina M ertens3
and Steven Degraer4
' International Marine and Dredging C onsultants (IMDC)
C oveliersstraat 15, 2600 Berchem
E-mail: sarah.vanden.eede@imdc.be
2 D epartm ent o f Public International Law, Ghent U niversity
U niversiteitstraat 4, 9000 Gent
3 Flanders Marine Institute
InnovOcean site, Wandelaarkaai 7, 8400 Oostende
4 OD/DO N atuu rlijk M ilie u /M ilie u x Naturels, Marine Ecosystem Management Section
Royal Belgian Institute o f Natural Sciences, GulledeIle 100, 1200 Brussels
The Belgian coastline is a dynam ic environm ent where currents, waves and w ind interact w ith the
natural coastal defence system o f beaches and dunes. In theory, the coastline should w ithstand a
1000 year storm event, but at its weakest links o nly a 100 year protection level is cu rren tly reached.
In the past so-called ‘ h ard ’ infrastructure (dykes, quay walls and groins) was constructed to protect
the land from the im pact o f the sea. Pending the realization o f the ‘ Master Plan fo r Coastal Safety’ ,
the weakest beaches are annually m aintained w ith ‘s o ft’ measures, e.g. beach nourishm ents.
Belgian beaches contain fine sand (200-250pm ), whereas fro m a geotechnical p oint o f view the
nourished sand ideally has a grain size o f at least 300pm creating more stable beaches. However,
the ecological effects o f beach n ourishm ent can be d ire c tly related to changes in grain size
(Speybroeck et al., 2006). Im pact research focuses on m acrobenthos, the seafloor inhabiting
benthic fo rm s larger than one m illim eter, as these organism s play a key role in the w ider beach
ecosystem. Locally, strong negative im pact effects are expected during and im m ediately fo llo w in g
nourishm ent since the chances o f survival o f the original beach fauna and flo ra are alm ost zero
(Harte e t al., 2002; Speybroeck e t al., 2004). The speed and degree o f ecological recovery largely
depend on the physical characteristics o f the beach habitat. M acrobenthic organism s tolerate only
small m odifications in beach slope and sedim ent grain size (150-300pm ). In general, phased
nourishm ent w ith natural sedim ent and beach slope during w in te r are recom m ended (Van Tom m e,
201 3; Vanden Eede, 201 3), urging fo r an o p tim iz a tio n o f the technical nourishm ent aspects.
When considering beach nourishm ent in the neighbourhood o f European protected sites, one m ust
take into account the strict regulatory fram e w o rk w ith respect to Natura 2000, which is included in
the Habitats Directive (Directive 92/43/EEC). In particular, article 6, §§3-4 contains a developm ent
regime, setting o ut the criteria under which plans and projects w ith possible negative effects on
Natura 2000 may or may not be allowed. A precautionary approach is required when assessing the
possible effects o f beach nourishm ent. In the Flemish Region th is fram ew ork has been im plem ented
in the Nature Conservation Decree in 2002, w hile the Royal Decree o f 14 October 2005 contains the
federal im plem entation fo r the Belgian part o f the North Sea. A lth ou g h the requirem ents o f Article
6, §§3-4 o f the Habitats Directive are quite straig htforw ard, the application on beach nourishm ent
proved to be quite burdensome the past years, p a rtia lly due to the incorrect im plem entation o f the
Habitats Directive in the Flemish legislation (Schoukens e t al., 2007). The d iffic u lt and som etim es
very incoherent application o f the rules o f nature conservation on beach nourishm ent, illustrates the
need fo r a more coherent legal fram e w o rk w ith an ecosystem based strategic approach, allow ing fo r
onsite m itig atio n and or offsite com pensation.
To investigate w hether intertida l beach nourishm ent has a s ig n ific a n t negative im pact on the global
conservation status o f nearby Natura 2000 areas, a fo u rfo ld assessment approach was created and
follow ed in some Belgian case studies (IMDC, 2011 ; 201 2).
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