Liek, G.-J.

Meersschaut, Y.

Taal, M.

Open Marine Archive

110 
 
INTEGRATING SCIENCE AND SEDIMENT MANAGEMENT IN A 
BILATERAL SETTING, IN THE SCHELDT ESTUARY 
M. Taal1*, G-J. Liek2, Y. Meersschaut3. 
1 Deltares, PO Box 177, 2600 MH Delft, The Netherlands 
E-mail: marcel.taal@deltares.nl 
2 Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, Rijkswaterstaat Zeeland 
3 Flemish Authorities, Department of Mobility and Public Works, Maritime Access Division 
 
The Scheldt estuary plays a crucial role in the relationship between the Netherlands and 
Flanders/Belgium. Both countries require flood protection, need accessibility to large ports 
(Antwerp, Ghent, Terneuzen, Vlissingen) and value it as one of the few remaining natural estuaries 
in North West Europe. This requires a sustainable and balanced policy. A long term vision was 
developed and executed in cooperation between the two countries. The cooperation was formalized 
in a Treaty (December, 2005). It included the agreement to do joint research to support policy and 
management.  
A main challenge is to come to ‘integrated sediment management’. Soft measures (dredging, 
disposal, sand mining, nourishments) are, due to flexibility and reversibility, preferred over ‘hard 
measures’. Options for sediment disposal differ horizontally (near or far away) and vertically (on 
intertidal areas, in secondary channels or in deep parts).  
We discuss the recent (post 2005) history in cooperation, the bilateral aspects and efforts to come 
to a joint research program. A bilateral set of working groups is now responsible for ‘posing the 
right questions’ (a joint list), a common monitoring program and operational sediment management 
(a flexible disposal strategy). 
We elaborate, using a policy analysis scheme, fig 1, on: 
- -The importance of conceptual models to make system knowledge understandable and 
effective for policy and management; 
- -How to balance between short and long term effects of management options, including 
autonomous developments like climate change; 
- -The role of a joint framework, to assess monitoring results as well as for evaluation of 
management options; 
- -Cooperation of knowledge institute, consultancies and estuarine managers;  
- -Do's en don'ts to make research of value for decision making in estuarine management and 
policy. Usefulness depends on the ability to link states and changes in morphology and 
hydrodynamics to estuarine functions, including the ecological response. 
 
Fig. 1: Making bridges from management to system knowledge 
 


Integrating science and sediment management in a bilateral setting, in the Scheldt Estuary

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