Cemex's planned closure of its Monterey Bay berach sand mine has had unexpected consequences.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium, a champion of sustainable seafood, uses sand supplied from the Cemex Marina beach mine for its aquarium.
But the recent activist pressure to close the mine – and the fact that Cemex has reached a proposed settlement with the California Coastal Commission to shut the mine by the end of 2020 – has forced the aquarium to look further afield for a new source, reports Monterey County Now.
Jon Hoech, director of husbandry operations, says the Aquarium began searching out a new sand source “about a year or two ago,” and that the effort has picked up over the past six months.
“Cemex sand has worked beautifully for us,” Hoech says.
Hoech says the Aquarium budgets about $3,000 annually for the purchase of 17.5 tons of Cemex sand to be used in its shorebird exhibits and at the bottom of aquariums.
This story was amened on 1 July to correct the cost of sand bought by the aquarium originally, and incorrectly, stated as being $300,000 a year.
