Dredging disturbs benthic habitats and sediments which can negatively impact water quality and create sediment plumes that can smother wildlife.

It’s like upcycling for marine sediments.Īlthough beneficial reuse is a relatively new strategy, dredging is a longstanding practice for maintaining the navigability of waterways for recreational, biological and economical productivity, but it is not without costs. Storms of such magnitude threaten our coastlines and are only predicted to become more frequent, but beneficial reuse gives a greater purpose to dredged sediments that are traditionally disposed of at an upland facility or in the open ocean. Two years ago, the North Carolina coast experienced hurricanes Florence and Michael and suffered large amounts of erosion and other damages from the hovering storms. These pipelines were transporting dredged materials, sediment extracted from the channel, onto the shore as part of a beach restoration strategy: beneficial reuse. This past February, during the off-season, beach goers saw large pipelines lining the beaches of Fort Macon and dredge hoppers just offshore. I imagine that’s true for most people, but that may be changing. I have lived in North Carolina and been near the coast my entire life, but I’ve never given much thought to dredging. Chelsea is an honors graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill’s Environment, Ecology and Energy Program. Chelsea Brown is a Marine Lab Technician with the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City.

Dredging report to NC general assembly