Beals-Pig Island Gut Dredging and Disposal Activities Notice

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Good morning,

As per Section/Paragraph no. 8 of our Beals Harbor & Pig Island Gut NRPA/WQC #L-24687-4E-B-N, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is requested to advertise project activities (dredging & disposal) and to conduct outreach via written notice thirty days in advance of the project start date (which is November 8, 2016) to the local fishing industry.

Below is a description of the project:

The proposed work involves urgently needed maintenance dredging to remove shoals in the Beals Harbor and Pig Island Gut Federal Navigation Projects (FNP) in order to restore the projects to their authorized dimensions. About 83,000 cubic yards (cy) of sediment will be removed from the 10-foot anchorage in Beals Harbor, and about 10,000 cy of silty sand will be removed from the 6-foot channel and 6-foot anchorage in Pig Island Gut.  The Beals Harbor anchorage is generally rectangular in area, about 600 feet long and averaging about 800 feet in width.  It has not been maintained since the original improvement dredging project in 1956-57.  The Pig Island Gut FNP consists of a 6-foot-deep, 80-foot-wide channel and a rectangular 5.5-acre (800 feet by 300 feet) anchorage.  It has not been maintained since the original improvement dredging project in 1965.  Disposal will be at the previously-used Mark Island Disposal Site (MIDS), about 500 meters by 500 meters in area,  in Chandler Bay, about 5 miles away.  Dredging and disposal will be done by mechanical means - using a dredge barge with crane and bucket or excavator, tug(s), and scow(s).  These shoals are primarily the result of natural shoaling.  These shoals are creating hazardous conditions especially for the commercial fishing vessels that are based in the harbors.  Recent hydrographic surveys indicate that almost the entire Beals Harbor anchorage has shoaled, and half of the Pig Island Gut anchorage has shoaled in addition to portions of the channel.  Maintenance dredging will be performed during an approximately 3 to 5 month period between November 8th and April 8th.
  Also, the USACE just held the pre-construction meeting with the contractor, Cashman, last week. They anticipates  starting work on November 8 and estimates the entire project will take 60 to 75 days.  Work will begin in Beals Harbor first, then dredge Pig island Gut.