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Harbor dredging is necessary, surprises about damage are not
A $36 million project by the Navy to make
the main shipping channel into Key West Harbor 34 feet deep to allow for
large military vessels was first criticized by some residents who said
the Navy wasn't providing enough details about the dredging. The Navy
responded with public meetings.
Then local turtle advocate Richie Moretti
of the Marathon Turtle Hospital screamed that the so-called hopper
dredger — to be used for the first month of the 18-month effort — would
grind up turtles along with the sand, rock and debris it was supposed to
smash to bits. The Navy responded that it had taken appropriate
precautions, had explored Moretti's suggestions and found them
inadequate.
In the past two weeks, The Citizen has
learned that the Navy's contractor, Bean-Stuyvesant, hit coral March 22
as its crew guided the hopper dredger through waters off Key West, and
that it's possible there's more damage.
We're hoping for an appropriate response
from the Navy, and its contractor, this time, too.
Bean-Stuyvesant reported the March 22
coral damage to Navy officials, who in turn alerted the Army Corps of
Engineers, the federal agency that granted the dredging permit.
This was the appropriate action to take,
and it would be nice if the damage reported is the only case of the
massive dredger banging into a precious resource for both sea life and
humans.
The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
and state wildlife officials are investigating several areas that might
have been hit, but wouldn't talk about the possible locations last week
or how many of them are being checked out. The sanctuary also is
assessing the loss from the March 22 incident.
Meanwhile, the Navy's contractor is
consulting with the Army Corps of Engineers, the Florida Keys National
Marine Sanctuary, which regulates waters off the Keys, and the Navy to
figure out how to avoid further coral damage.
Since these types of meetings also are
said to have taken place prior to the start of dredging, we wonder why
these conversations didn't take place then.
Surely the experts planning for the
massive dredging operation could have predicted some bumping around that
might bring equipment dangerously close to patches of coral.
In fact, there were some efforts to
preserve coral in the channel before the dredging began, as some was
transplanted to other places in preparation for the project.
The dredging is a major undertaking,
supported even by Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary officials who
say the silt that sits at the bottom of the channel gets stirred up by
cruise ships as they pass through the harbor and smothers coral. A
deeper channel should help, they say.
Is the tradeoff of digging a deeper harbor
to allow for cruise ships and large military ships to pass through —
with the added benefit of eliminating silt buildup on patches of coral —
worth the damage caused in the process?
It has to be. The military needs access to
the harbor, and in this era of doing all that is necessary to secure our
homeland, there was never a question about whether the project would be
done.
But the coral damage seems to have caught
those involved in the process off-guard, and the public, too. That is
surprising, considering the experts knew the scope of this project and
the type of equipment being used.
Now we all know the possibility of coral
being damaged during the next year and a half.
We urge local marine experts, sanctuary
officials and representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers to put
together a realistic strategy for minimizing future damage. |
