The federal Army Corps of Engineers’ Lake Montauk harbor dredging project to restore safe navigation to the inlet is commencing this week. The Oyster Bay, a 144-foot-by-60-foot mechanical dredge and barge, and supporting equipment have arrived, marking the start of mobilization.
Sand dredged from the inlet, which will increase the navigation channel’s depth to 17 feet, will be placed on the beach west of the western jetty. Operations are expected to continue through January.
A discharge pipeline extending from the dredge to the disposal site will include submerged crossings. These will be marked with red and green navigation aids and lights, as well as spar buoys with yellow flashing lights to indicate the pipeline’s path.
The municipal parking lot on West Lake Drive near the western jetty is closed for the duration of the project, and temporary beach closures may occur during sand placement. The Coast Guard has advised mariners to use caution and operate at the slowest safe speed to avoid wake near dredging equipment.
H&L Contracting of Hauppauge will conduct the dredging operations. Along with the Oyster Bay, equipment on site will include a 30-by-90-foot excavator barge, a 130-by-40-foot barge with walls for cargo, two tugboats (Uncle Bill and Manhasset Bay), and several skiffs, all monitoring VHF-FM Channels 16 and 65.
Work will proceed 24 hours per day, seven days per week, until completion, East Hampton Town Councilman David Lys told the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee on Monday.
The federal action to deepen the navigation channel followed town and Suffolk County officials’ urging the Army Corps of Engineers to move up its fall 2025 schedule, as intensified shoaling had reduced the channel’s depth to a dangerous level, commercial fishermen and the Coast Guard said. An emergency dredging of the channel was done last winter but did not impact the fall schedule to conduct the work set to happen now. The shoaling, Mr. Lys told his colleagues on the town board in January, was “to a point where right now we are having boats having to wait for high tide, or taking their landings out of state.”
A feasibility study completed in 2020 set new parameters for dredging the inlet to increase its depth from 12 to 17 feet. Before last winter’s emergency dredging, it was shallower than 12 feet, commercial fishermen said.
Lake Montauk is home to New York State’s largest commercial fishing fleet. The inlet is used by as many as 500 vessels per day in the summer, and the Coast Guard travels from its Star Island base into Block Island Sound and beyond by way of the inlet.
In September, after contracting bids came in higher than anticipated, the town allocated $1.1 million from its host community agreement with the developers of the South Fork Wind farm to fill a federal funding gap and ensure the dredging took place.
“Getting to this point has taken persistence and partnership at every level of government,” Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said in a statement issued on Monday. “From my first meetings in 2014 to today’s mobilization, this project reflects the combined effort of so many, our federal and state partners, the Coast Guard, the commercial fishing community, and local residents who understand how critical this harbor is to Montauk’s identity and economy. Keeping this channel navigable means protecting jobs, ensuring safe access for emergency vessels, and preserving Montauk’s role as a working waterfront that serves the entire region.”
