A project known as BEACHMED has been set within the INTERREG IIIB - MEDOCC Community program, reserved to the western Mediterranean coastal countries. Purpose of this project is to define technical, environmental and economic issues connected to the extraction of marine borrow sand, essential for the reconstruction and the conservation of erosive coasts. 
All Countries involved in the area of competence of INTERREG IIIB-MEDOCC, have lead research projects in this sector with varied levels of in-depth work and methodologies. BEACHMED proposes to conform to this innovative approach which touches upon the structural problems of the coastal erosion, with a whole of sectoral activities: these are developed through a network that privileges exchange of the data and experience between the partners of the western Mediterranean.
The Project principle is connected to a real opportunity to converge on the definition of common and advanced methodologies in the sector of the assessment of environmental damages due to coastal erosion, the possible damages consequent to the use of marine quarries and to beach nourishment, the techniques of sandy deposit research, and on the optimal technologies of dredging and nourishment. We believe that a correct use of these methodologies may lead to a real management of the seascape, and to the protection and valorisation of the natural authentic shoreline patrimony.
For example, techniques of shorelines nourishment by marine sands are strongly developed today in the North of Europe (Low Countries, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, etc). These are supported by an in-depth knowledge of sea beds and by the existence of an important fleet of dredges. These dredging machines are also active in Far East (Singapore, Hong Kong, etc), where they are used extensively to remove hundreds of millions cubic meters of material (land reclamation).
The western Mediterranean currently does not constitute an interesting basin for these machines, which are extremely expensive to move. Important difficulties in the award of this kind of jobs are still noticed, also regard those with hundreds thousands cubic meters.
The cartography of extraction areas and the launch of the European planning of interventions in favour of coastal defence, thanks to nourishment, are essential elements so that the dredges market considers the western Mediterranean as a strategic basin and it decides to move in stable way a part of its fleet, or in order to orient the armament societies towards the equipment of specialized dredges for the European basin requirements.
One of the main objectives of the Projects is to define a potential market for sand nourishment for the reconstruction and the maintenance of the western Mediterranean beach basin.
The purpose is interest both the private and public sectors to invest in this segment, on the basis of a defined frame of macro-technical, economic and environmental elements. It is in particular a question of sensitising public administrations to planning long-lasting and effective defence of shorelines. It is moreover a question of providing dredging companies with data on which to implement great investments in this sector (constant presence of dredging means in the western Mediterranean, technological specialisation of the same with reference to the requirements of our coasts, etc).