Sicily is a Mediterranean island region whose economy is based especially on tourism, with tourists being attracted to its beaches. The whole coastline of the island, including its minor islands, is 1745 km. At the moment, considering the whole period analyzed by the Coastal Plan of Sicilian Region (2008–2024), about 115 km of the 683 km of the main island’s sandy coastline present erosion problems that affect 23% of its unprotected coastline (506 km). Some of these problems are threatening Sicily’s economic and important historical assets as well as its cultural heritage; 177 km of protected beaches, using hard structure, have lost their original beauty. In the last fifty years, about 2.5 km2 of beaches were lost due to erosion, causing damages worth approximately 5 billion Euros. Current coastal management guidelines identify artificial beach nourishment as the most sustainable strategy for protecting the insular economy against the accelerating impacts of climate change. Successful nourishment, however, hinges on the availability of vast quantities of borrow material that must be granulometrically, compositionally, and chromatically compatible with native beach sediments. While subaerial quarries are being phased out due to their irreversible environmental degradation and logistical inefficiency, as well as local “ephemeral” sources (such as harbor dredging or over-alluvial deposits) providing insufficient volumes, the research has shifted toward Remote/Relict Marine Sediment Deposits (RMSDs). This study evaluates the strategic potential of RMSDs as a high-volume, low-impact resource for coastal defense. By integrating the geological, morphological, and sedimentological characteristics of the Sicilian continental shelf within a GIS framework, we have delineated potential dredging sectors. These areas are bounded by the −30 m isobath (the lower limit of Posidonia oceanica meadows) and the −200 m isobath, which represents the current operational limit of Jumbo Trailer Suction Hopper Dredgers (TSHDs). A multi-criteria constraint analysis was performed, categorizing environmental and infrastructural overlaps into fatal flaws (prohibitive) and non-prohibitive constraints. This subtractive spatial analysis reveals that approximately 6500 km2 of the Sicilian shelf may be eligible for resource exploitation concessions, pending site-specific, high-resolution surveys.
Lanza et al. (Wed,) studied this question.