Manatee Pocket dredging ready to enter next phase

TCPalm
By staff report
Friday, August 6, 2010

Preparations for the next phase of Manatee Pocket dredging will begin this week.

The contractor, Dickerson Florida Inc, will mobilize for dredging operations in the Pocket’s four tributaries. Dickerson will use a smaller dredge, owned by subcontractor Piedroba Marine, to remove sediment from the tributaries’ narrow waterways. On August 9, tributary dredging will begin in Crooked Creek. Once completed, tributary dredge operations will move on to Chapman’s Creek.

Dickerson will continue dredging in the main channel concurrently while tributary dredging is conducted. Since dredged material from both the tributaries and the main channel must move through a single pipeline, dredging in the Pocket will occur in alternating 12 hour shifts, Sunday evening through Saturday afternoon. The tributary dredging by Piedroba Marine will begin at 6 a.m. and continue until the Dickerson dredge takes over dredging in the main channel at 6 p.m. each day. “By moving into a 24-hour operation we are maximizing our efficiency and minimizing the amount of time required to complete the project,” Martin County Coastal Engineer Kathy FitzPatrick said.

Piedroba Marine is scheduled to begin daytime dredging in Crooked Creek on Monday, August 9 and Dickerson will begin night work in the main channel on Sunday, August 8. For construction updates, visit www.manateepocketproject.com.

About The Manatee Pocket Project

The Manatee Pocket Project is a dredging project that entails the removal of approximately 280,000 cubic yards of sediment from the Manatee Pocket in Port Salerno. Once completed, the project will result in a 100-foot-wide channel that will provide navigational and environmental enhancements to the Manatee Pocket and its adjacent waterways and provide important economic benefits for the surrounding communities.

The goals of the project are to:
• Increase the draft and size of vessels that will be able to access the Pocket
• Define a channel to minimize impacts to adjacent shallow water areas and benefit manatee protection
• Remove detrimental sediments
• Improve the ability of marine life to re-establish in the Pocket
• Improve the water quality in the Pocket by greatly reducing the resuspension of sediment

For more information visit www.manateepocketproject.com