WODA, CEDA at IMO’s London Convention Meeting

The 42nd meeting of the Scientific Groups of the London Convention and the 13th meeting of the London Protocol took place last month in Vancouver, Canada, the Central Dredging Association (CEDA) said in its latest release. 

The meeting was attended by experts responsible for the protection of the marine environment representing over 30 countries from all over the world, as well as non-governmental observers, among them WODA/CEDA.

The one-week agenda of the Scientific Groups meetings traditionally includes the Science Day which is always dedicated to a particular topic. This year’s topic was monitoring, said CEDA.

Dr Mark Lee, member of the CEDA-IADC editorial board for the recently published CEDA-IADC book “Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure”, and lead author of the chapter on monitoring, was one of the presenters during the day.

In his presentation entitled “Pointers on Practical and Achievable Monitoring of Dredging from “Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure”……. & Beyond ……!” he talked about:

• Key principles for designing monitoring for dredging;
• Why not losing sight of the science is essential for practical and achievable monitoring;
• What is achievable in modern monitoring of dredging; and
• What is likely to constitute practical and achievable monitoring of dredging in the near future.

“Dredging and projects involving dredging can, and do, deliver both positive and negative impacts to the marine environment. Monitoring is fundamental to measuring impacts but, equally importantly, to managing dredging projects so that impacts are consistent with the project planning and licencing. High-quality monitoring is therefore essential for dredging to play its part in sustainable infrastructure development,” said Dr Lee. 

Dr Lee concluded his presentation by giving a complimentary copy of “Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure” to the chair of the London Convention Scientific Group, Ms Linda Porebski, Environment Canada.