USA: Long Neck Boaters Call for Dredging

Long Neck boaters have expressed their concern that excessive shoaling near Massey’s Landing will stop traffic and could damage their vessels.

Chuck Williams, program manager for the Division of Watershed Stewardship at the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, admits it is a bad situation, stressing that fixing it falls under the responsibility of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers because Massey’s Landing and the Indian River are federal channels.

Boaters strongly believe that dredging is the solution. Williams, however, said the state may conduct dredging, but that would require an engineering analysis and available funds. He added the work could be done as early as this fall, but it is more likely to take place in 2013.

Sand from the dredging could be transferred to Middle Island to help restore wildlife habitats.

Richard Pearsall, spokesperson for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the organization plans to survey Massey’s Ditch this year, likely in the early summer, but he was unsure when work would be done.

“There is no money in this year’s budget and probably won’t be in next year’s either for dredging anywhere in the Indian River Inlet area,” he said. “At a time of tight budgets, the money is going to projects where there is more commercial navigation.”

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Dredging Today Staff, March 22, 2012;