The Dredge Method

Dredge is a very known device that is used for the suction or scraping of the seabed. What is dredging?. Dredging is an operation or method that usually carried out underwater such as fresh water areas or shallow seas. The purpose of this activity is to gather up the sediments that are found in the bottom and dispose them at a different location. This method is used to keep the waterways satisfactory navigable. Dredge suction is the name of the method that operates by suctioning through a large tube.

The dredge technique is also used for fishing for specific species such as crabs, clams and to replenish sand on public beaches. The dredger is a boat or ship that is equipped with a device known as a dredge. All marine dredge operations required a license, which is obtained regulatory authorities.

The offshore sand that is found between the reefs is usually removed with the usage of dredging ships. These dredge ships while digging the borrow pit they create a large amount of sediment. These pits provided low quality sand, which is not durable and will fall apart easily into fine particles during the fill process.

The majority of southeast Florida beaches are known to be filled by large amounts of low quality sand by the dredge technique. The poor quality of the sand causes the sand to move offshore, which will buried near shore reefs. The Broward county is known for having the largest recorded reef buried in the county history. A monitoring report done by the county had estimated that over sixty acres coral reefs were buried in eighteen months. This report was completed back in 2006, but it is known that sand placement in the county is still burying important resources in the area. It is known that the coast of Southeast Florida has hundreds of acres of reef destroyed and buried by beach projects done by the dredge method.