The English Channel is characterised by the presence of numerous activities at sea. Historic (fishing, shipping) and new activities (marine renewable energy) coexist with industrial uses (port activities, marine aggregate extractions) within a limited maritime space.
The SIG SIEGMA (2002-2023) had allowed to acquire the knowledge the impact of aggregate extractions on the marine environment and on fishing through in situ studies carried out between 2003 and 2014 at extraction sites in the Bay of Seine and off Dieppe.
The SIG SIEGMA brought together aggregate producers, scientists and fishermen. Subsequent to the SIG SIEGMA, representatives of the main activities along the French coast of the English Channel united around a shared challenge: the need to study all human activities in order to understand their cumulative impacts on the marine environment, as well as the necessity to respond to the regulatory framework regarding industrial activities at sea.
This shared ambition led to the creation of the SIG ECUME (Effets Cumulés en Mer – Cumulative effects at Sea) in November 2020, funded by the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) and the Normandy Region, with co-funding from UNICEM Normandie.
