Posted on July 26, 2020
FENWICK ISLAND, Del. – The Little Assawoman Bay has never been dredged before. Boaters say they often get stuck. After a new survey, that could change.
“A lot of people go out here and don’t know what’s going on,” says Jack Straughan. “They get stuck up here on the sand bar.”
Straughan grew up in Fenwick Island and spent a lot of time on the water crabbing, clamming and fishing.
“It was nice, but even back in the early 60’s it was still shallow in the center there,” Straughan says.
Town Manager Terry Tieman says town council heard boaters cries and decided a couple of years ago to pursue the project.
“Conditions were becoming very unsafe in the bay with the number of boats that were there, the number of kayakers and all the recreational water activities that were going on,” Tieman says.
An engineering firm has been hired and the town has outlined the area that will be dredged. A bathymetric survey was performed on Tuesday and Wednesday to see how deep the bay is.
“Based on that survey we’ll draw bid specifications and proceed to get permitting from DNREC and bid the project out,” Tieman says.
Tieman says the town is hoping for low interest loans and grants, but money from a permit has already been set aside.
“The permit for the Fenwick Shores Hotel, so we set aside part of that money and we also set aside money from our realty transfer tax,” Tieman says.
Scott Mumford, who owns Warren’s Station, says dredging the Little Assawoman is long overdue.
“With the continued growth in the area, we’re seeing more boat traffic and in particular parts of the channel, especially as you’re coming into the ditch, even on low tide, I have a 20 foot boat that has hit bottom,” Mumford says.
The dredge design meeting on July 10th looked at placing the dredged sand on Seal Island. Tieman says the cost won’t be finalized until the bids come in. She says the town hopes to obtain a permit from DNREC in early 2021, which would put dredging on track to begin next spring.
Source: wboc
