Posted on August 27, 2018
The entrance of the Oceanside harbor, which missed its annual spring cleaning this year, will get a special dredging in October to keep the channel safe for navigation, federal officials announced Friday.
Ocean waves and currents constantly push sand into the harbor, which requires periodic maintenance to stay open. A recent city survey showed the channel’s average depth was down to 16 feet, with spots as shallow as 8 or 9 feet.
“On a low tide and a south swell, it’s pretty treacherous out there,” Harbor Division Manager Ted Schiafone told the city’s Harbor and Beaches Advisory Committee this week.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for maintaining the harbor entrance, which is used by recreational and commercial boats from Oceanside and military vessels from Camp Pendleton.
The Corps was unable to do the dredging as scheduled in April because the agency failed to get a permit required by the Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Manson Construction, the same contractor that did the work last year and was scheduled to do it in April, will return this fall, states a news release from the Corps of Engineers on Friday. The cost is expected to be about $3.5 million.
Sand dredged from the harbor is used to replenish Oceanside beaches as a byproduct of the maintenance project.
About 250,000 cubic yards of material are removed from the harbor most years, and usually the work takes about three weeks. Last year, Oceanside added $600,000 to the $3.7 million federal contract to boost the total volume of sand to 440,000 cubic yards placed on the city’s beaches.
The amount of material to be dredged in October is still being negotiated between the Corps of Engineers and the city, said Dena O’Dell, deputy chief of public affairs for the Corps in Los Angeles.
Also under negotiation is whether Manson will return for dredging in the spring, she said.
Oceanside Mayor Peter Weiss, who was on vacation this week, sent the Corps a letter requesting they dredge this fall and next spring, said Kiel Koger, the city’s public works director.
“We have been measuring the channel depths along with the Corps all summer,” Koger said in an email Friday. “It was explained to the Corps that this situation needed their immediate attention. City staff will be meeting with Col. Aaron Barta and other Corps staff next week to discuss further.”
The harbor and its activities are significant factors in Oceanside’s tourism-based economy.
Oceanside Adventures, which runs whale-watching and sightseeing trips out of the harbor, has canceled a number of excursions this summer because of the poor harbor conditions.
“The cost of missed trips has really started to add up,” Donna Kalez, general manager of the business, said Friday.
“We are pleased to see that the dredge will begin,” Kalez said. “And we are confident that they will dredge the entrance channel back to a depth of 26 feet. At 16 feet, it’s really made it challenging.”
Schiafone, the harbor manager, also said Friday he was pleased with the news.
“That should ensure safe passage for our recreational and commercial vessels through next spring,” he said in an email.
City officials had hoped the dredging might begin in September, but environmental restrictions prevent that.
“The California least tern — and endangered subspecies — can be present in the area through September,” states the Corps of Engineers news release. “Dredging, habitat loss, nesting disturbance, pollution and predation by domestic and wild animals are all threats to the species.”
Coastal communities throughout San Diego County depend on periodic replenishment projects to keep sand on their eroding beaches.
Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune
