Southern Maine harbors get their own dredger

Coastal communities in Southern Maine stand to benefit from a new dredge that will be used to improve navigational channels and replenish beaches from Kittery to Scarborough and possibly beyond.

The York County Commission has given the green light to purchase an 86-foot suction dredge using $1.54 million in federal funding made available through the American Rescue Plan Act.

If all goes according to plan, the dredge should arrive in spring and be in operation for the 2024-25 dredging season, if not sooner.

The dredge would be managed through a newly created nonprofit organization called the Southern Maine Dredge Authority and would be rented on a “pay-as-you-go” system as dredging projects arise.

In time, the goal is to have the dredge be self-sustaining from revenues generated from dredging projects for municipalities and possibly boatyards and other privately owned properties, said Al Sicard, chairman of the York County Commission.

Ten federal navigational channels in the region have been dredged a total of 120 times between 1949 and 2018, generating nearly 3.5 million cubic yards of material, according to a 2018 study by the Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission that examined the feasibility of purchasing and operating hydraulic dredge equipment in southern Maine.

Those navigational channels include places such as York Harbor, Wells Harbor, the Josias River in Ogunquit, the Kennebunk River, and Pine Point Harbor in Scarborough.

York County commissioners approved the purchase in October by a 3-2 vote.

The dredge will be manufactured by Ellicott Dredges LLC, of Baltimore, Md., and be equipped with a rotating cutter head that loosens and lifts sand and other materials from shallow channels to increase navigational depths and transfer the material to restore nearby shorelines.