Sand dredging is associated with benthic habitat alteration and chronic turbidity with profound ecological consequences likely for the UK and Ireland's largest freshwater lake

) in shallow waters, exceeding mud and fine-sand erosion thresholds by four to five orders of magnitude, implying potential local bed scour of up to ∼1.3 m depth, while mid-lake stresses remained sufficient for sediment resuspension. Collectively, these findings indicate that sand dredging is associated with sustained, lake-wide physical disturbance and sediment redistribution, with plausible implications for nutrient remobilisation, water quality, biodiversity, and HAB dynamics. These findings support the inclusion of extraction activity, vessel-induced disturbance, and shoreline sedimentation within future monitoring, management, and licensing frameworks for sand mining in lake ecosystems.