Army Corps of Engineers issues plan for emergency dredging of Montauk Inlet

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Monday issued a public notice describing a new plan for "emergency maintenance dredging" at Montauk Inlet this winter, but Montauk fishing interests are concerned that a start date for the work still wasn’t clear Wednesday.

The Monday notice said the Army Corps has "received the needed emergency declaration" to start the work after finding there were "no adverse impacts" to any relevant endangered species in the channel. Up to 10,500 cubic yards of sand expected to be dredged from the inlet will be placed just west of the inlet, the project plan states.

"The dredging and placement west of the west jetty is currently anticipated to occur during the winter of 2025, subject to the availability of funds," the notice states, while also discussing public comment periods and a possible public hearing before work can begin.

Newsday has reported that at least five commercial fishing boats that are based in Montauk have had to offload fish and station in Rhode Island because of the dangers of shoaling at Montauk Inlet.

A spokesman for the Army Corps didn’t respond to messages about the plan. Montauk fishermen and their advocates say the work is already months late, as ships loaded with fish and ice have been hitting shoals and clogging the inlet as they pass to and from, particularly at low tide.

"What are you waiting for, gang?" Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said Tuesday, adding the state’s largest fishing port has already lost around $100,000 in revenue because of the problem.

"Why has it taken this long and why the emphasis on the plan versus the emergency right in front of their faces?" Brady said. "If everyone has signed off, I don’t understand why they haven’t started the work already. This is really urgent."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote a letter to the Army Corps on Tuesday, pointing to the "critically shallow depth" of the channel and the "dangerous situation for maritime vessels" it has created. A Schumer spokesman on Wednesday said the senator "wants this work to start ASAP and that’s what he has communicated to the Army Corps."

Brady said U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) also has been pressing the Army Corps on the issue. 

A recent Army Corps survey of the inlet showed some sections are as shallow as 3.6 feet on the waterway’s central and eastern edge. Dredging would take the 0.7-mile channel, which is 150 feet wide, to a depth of at least 12 feet. The channel was last dredged in 2018.

The Army Corps had planned to dredge the channel in October and last month said it couldn’t move that date up "due to current environmental windows, time necessary to obtain required real estate, town cost-share funding and finalization of contract package."

The latest Army Corps notice says the agency is soliciting comments from the public to "consider and evaluate the impacts for the proposed activity," with the comment period expected to close Feb. 12.

In addition, those potentially affected by the dredged sand placement can request a public hearing, though the notice said "no known archaeological, scientific, pre-historical or historical data are expected to be lost" because of the dredging. 

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.