Seems that a dredge named for a Nassau County town, the Dredge Oyster Bay, was no match for the rugged terrain of Lake Montauk, home to New York State’s largest commercial fishing fleet.
At Tuesday’s East Hampton Town Board meeting, Councilman David Lys darkly said the dredge had been “terminally damaged” and that a new dredge, the Scrod II, had been called in on Friday to relieve it. More important, he said the Army Corps of Engineers’ project to dredge the harbor inlet was still on schedule, despite the many delays since it began just over a month ago.
When last Mr. Lys updated the board on the Dredge Oyster Bay, earlier this month, he said it “ran into a really big rock” and had become incapacitated.
“Anything past 17 feet is an extremely hard dig,” he told the board, letting the Dredge Oyster Bay off the hook a bit. The Scrod II has helped dredge Lake Montauk in the past.
“Luckily it was available. The contractor brought it in, and it’s been working for about the last 72 hours. There’s going to be a different dredging methodology. They’re not going to try to dig deeper, because the material down there is very hard. They’re going to try to remove it,” he said.
The Oyster Bay will soon be removed from the vicinity.
When complete, the channel in Lake Montauk will be dredged to a depth of 17 feet, with sand placed on the beach to its west. Last winter, the inlet shoaled so much that fishing boats would have to idle beyond its mouth waiting for the highest of tides to enter.
