Dredges Hard At Work In Harwich Harbors

 HARWICH – Barnstable Country’s two dredges are busy clearing Saquatucket Harbor and Allen Harbor channels and using sand to build up both public and private beaches along Nantucket Sound.

 The dredges are working under an emergency waiver from the state Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) which allows the projects to operate during time-of-year restrictions that are put in place to protect marine species during spawning and migration periods. The waiver applies to the time-of-year restriction in place for horseshoe crabs from May 1 to June 30. The town’s conservation department is keeping tabs on any impacts to horseshoe crabs from the work, as directed by the DMF.

 “It’s been a busy dredge season for the Barnstable County dredges,” said Barnstable County Dredge Director Kenneth Cirillo. Dredge projects were done in Truro, Dennis, Falmouth, Mashpee, Yarmouth and Chatham. The Harwich projects will be the last for the dredge season, which lasts from Labor Day to around Memorial Day.

 But the cold winter weather has had an impact on dredging schedules, Cirillo said. The county dredge Cod Fish II was frozen in at Sesuit Harbor in Dennis for two weeks this winter. 

 The two county dredges, Cod Fish II and Sand Shifter, have been working in the Harwich channels over the past week, but weather conditions have impeded progress to some degree. But Cirillo said that overall, this season has been one of the best in 30 years, with more than 130 cubic yards of sand removed from channels, exclusive of what will be dredged in Harwich.

 Harbormaster John Harker said the plan is to dredge up to 10,000 cubic yards of sand from the Saquatucket Harbor entrance channel. The select board approved a contract with Barnstable County for $270,280 for the work. The Saquatucket Harbor channel is a federal channel requiring an eight-foot depth; it will be dredged to nine feet. 

The board also approved a contract with the county for $220.092 to remove up to 8,000 cubic yards from the Allen Harbor channel. That channel will be dredged to seven feet, according to Harker.

Three-quarters of the Allen Harbor channel was not passable, Cirillo said. The shoaling was a hazard to navigation, a safety issue, said Harker.

 A third contract will also be brought to the select board to remove a shoal in the Wychmere Harbor channel between the Wychmere Harbor Club and Stonehorse Yacht Club, said Harker.

 The cost of dredging has increased for the town, but it is being offset by selling some of the sand to shorefront private property owners. The county dredge price for removal is $26.50 per cubic yard. Harker said about 6,000 cubic yards will be sold to four private property homeowners on the shoreline. Two bidders agreed to pay $26.50 per cubic yard; another bid was for $30; and the highest bidder was $33 per cubic yard, he said. 

Dredge funding has been cut back on the state level. Harker said the legislature has discontinued the state dredge program, which provided 50 percent of the cost of dredging to towns. Town meeting approved $500,000 in the capital plan for annual dredging of harbors and inlets and $350,000 in emergency funding for Saquatucket Harbor bulkhead dredging, with $175,000 coming from the water fund and $175,000 from the capital fund returned balances. 

Without the state dredge funds, the town will have to cover 100 percent of dredging costs. The $500,000 is a five-year average for dredge costs for the three Nantucket Sound harbors, Harker said. The annual average is $486,000.

Cirillo said the cost of using the county dredge is lower than hiring a private dredge. A private contractor with a hydraulic dredge would cost 65 percent more than the county dredge, if not more, he said.

 “We’re probably one of the best deals the government has to offer,” Cirillo said. 

 It’s hard to predict the dredging needs for next year, Harker said, adding that the “strong mid-to-late winter storms out of the southwest have been causing the erosion we’re seeing around the Cape.” 

 Last Thursday leverman Cory Flemming was at the helm of Cod Fish II, swaying the cutter head back and forth shaping a 70-foot wide, nine-foot deep channel into Saquatucket Harbor. The sand was being sucked through a 14-inch hose and pumped onto a private beach just east of the harbor entrance. The Sand Shifter, meanwhile, was in Allen Harbor channel and had 2,000 feet of hose extended to the public beach at Wyndemere Bluffs, nourishing a new beachhead.

Public beaches that will receive nourishment will include Grey Neck Road, WahWahTaysee Road, Wyndemere Bluffs, Neel Road and Red River Beach. Earle Road and Brooks Road beaches received nourishment from a smaller dredge project in the Allen Harbor channel in March, Harker said. Other beaches will be nourished by the littoral drift of sand from west to east, he said.