Dredge drudgery

Deepa Bharath

The notorious El Nino storms four years ago did more damage to local

bays and marinas than meets the eye, apparently.

Plazi Miller, vice president of Shellmaker Inc., said his company

has been hired to dig out a portion of several hundred tons of

sediment that washed over from the upper bay into the channels after

the storms.

“It’s causing a lot of problems,” he said. “During a low tide,

boats can’t get in and out of the marina.”

Shellmaker was hired by the property management company for the

Balboa Marina to dredge the sediment. The project, involving a giant

derrick barge and an equally large dump barge, began on Wednesday

near the Newport Beach Nautical Museum.

The sediment was causing problems for boats docked in the marina,

said Glenn Zagoren, the museum’s chief executive officer.

“Some of the boats were bottoming out,” he said. “So this is

probably something that had to be done.”

Miller said he had also done a similar dredging job at Swails

Anchorage.

The sediment problem is common to several parts of the bay, he

said. But permits that need to come from the Army Corps of Engineers

take as long as a year to obtain, Miller said.

“The city has one master permit for dredging,” he said. “But the

sub-permits that must be obtained for each individual area must come

from the Army Corps of Engineers. The city will issue a final permit

based on the approval from the Army Corps of Engineers.”

There’s a “lot of dredging to be done” Miller said.

Clogged are the entire inside and outside of Linda Isle near

Newport Harbor Yacht Club, the north side of Lido Isle, the perimeter

of Harbor Island and the west side of Bay Island, he said.

Miller said his project at the Balboa Marina will be completed in

about a week, in which time, 9,000 cubic yards of sediment will be

removed.