The SIG ECUME aims to support a scientific approach for acquiring knowledge on the cumulative impacts of human activities in coastal environments (marine aggregate extractions, offshore wind farms, submarine cables, fishing activities, dredging and disposal of dredged sediments at sea).

In a regional approach, the SIG ECUME brings together the main project developers in the French part of the English Channel: UNICEM Normandie (marine aggregate extractions), RTE (submarine cables), CRPMEM Normandie (fishing activities), HAROPA PORT and Ports de Normandie (dredging and disposal of dredged sediments), EOHF and EOC (offshore wind energy) and Normandy’s higher education and research establishments: the Universities of Caen (host institute and legal bearer of SIG ECUME), Rouen and Le Havre.

The research priorities of the SIG ECUME are the impacts of the above-mentioned activities in terms of hydro-sedimentary dynamics and underwater noise, the recolonization of anthropized areas by the marine fauna, the societal acceptability of human activities at sea, as well as the development of a methodology for cumulative effect assessment in environmental impact studies.