Ron J
Active member
[attachment 77547 DredginginBeverlyharbor143.jpg]This little adventure takes place, right in my own "backyard". It may take a few posts to describe with photo's of course! It may get boring,maybe not! 
I have lived in Beverly all my live, either on the Bass River, or the last 30 yrs, on the Danvers River. Never thought of it as a big deal. As i mentioned before, growing up,been on the water in somekind of vessel, since i was 5 or so. Been in Rowboats, Oversize inner tubes, Lobsterboat, hydroplanes, cuttycabins, etc. Never a sailor though. You need to "know" the river, just as any waterways, low water areas,rocks, mussel beds, and most important the Channel! Over the years, the rivers get shallower, from silt,mud,debris. Eventually they need to be dredged, that is to removed tons & tons of silt. This mud/silt is contaminated material, from road run off, sunken boats, releasing oil,gas etc. So there are toxins in the dredged material. I'am no expert on this, but read it many times over the years, cause every city or town, with Marina's or boatslips need it done, sooner or later. Trouble is it's very expensive! Takes years to get permits, State, Federal, Corps of Engineers, local gov't, agencys, Environmental etc. This list grows as long as your arm and then some. You need to get rid of it somewhere also! Can't just dump it anywhere you feel like. You also need to worry about crabs,fish,eels,worms,mussels, perrywinkle's, and every creepycrawler that lives,feeds,poops,migrates,mates,etc. So can you understand why it takes years to get permits? And any town/city lucky enough to get the $$, and the permits, may be fortunate to not need dredging for another 20 or 30 years. This dredging started a little over a month ago,after a lengthy process, of the permits, then bidding for the right contractor. Then the Contractor who lost the bidding, sued for unfair practice, and finally that got squared away. The Contractor that did win, has a limited time period to finish the job,period. No extensions, because of spawning season for certain fish,or sea life. The dredging takes place around the corner,from where i live. The Porter River,and The Crane River, both located at the end of the Danvers River, bordering both sides of where the Big Blast took place a little over a year ago. The Contractor has two bridges to contend with, the Kernwood Bridge, and the "T" Railroad bridge, plus a channel, that is indeed not in a straight line, curves like a snake. The dredgers work kind of around the clock, because of the tides. The bridges caused a small problem. The larger scows they would fill,were too large to fit thru the pilings. So they ended up with 3 smaller barges, constantly rotating,being filled, one at a time. When a barge gets filled,depending on the tide,it gets pushed down river,thru the bridges,into Beverly Harbor,where the larger Scow is located. Once the Scow is filled,it is towed out 14 miles into Massachusetts Bay, to a specified location for dumping,then returned to be refilled. To hear a tug, or pilot boat rumbling at anytime of the day or night is not unusual now. This is where it sort of begins,once the equipment has been put in place. I need to mention,every mooring in the rivers,had to be removed.Notice the loader is bolted down to the barge! You should see that whole platform twist,as the bucket is filled,and lifted![attachment 77542 DredginginBeverlyharbor138.jpg][attachment 77543 DredginginBeverlyharbor137.jpg] [attachment 77544 DredginginBeverlyharbor141.jpg] [attachment 77545 DredginginBeverlyharbor134.jpg]
I have lived in Beverly all my live, either on the Bass River, or the last 30 yrs, on the Danvers River. Never thought of it as a big deal. As i mentioned before, growing up,been on the water in somekind of vessel, since i was 5 or so. Been in Rowboats, Oversize inner tubes, Lobsterboat, hydroplanes, cuttycabins, etc. Never a sailor though. You need to "know" the river, just as any waterways, low water areas,rocks, mussel beds, and most important the Channel! Over the years, the rivers get shallower, from silt,mud,debris. Eventually they need to be dredged, that is to removed tons & tons of silt. This mud/silt is contaminated material, from road run off, sunken boats, releasing oil,gas etc. So there are toxins in the dredged material. I'am no expert on this, but read it many times over the years, cause every city or town, with Marina's or boatslips need it done, sooner or later. Trouble is it's very expensive! Takes years to get permits, State, Federal, Corps of Engineers, local gov't, agencys, Environmental etc. This list grows as long as your arm and then some. You need to get rid of it somewhere also! Can't just dump it anywhere you feel like. You also need to worry about crabs,fish,eels,worms,mussels, perrywinkle's, and every creepycrawler that lives,feeds,poops,migrates,mates,etc. So can you understand why it takes years to get permits? And any town/city lucky enough to get the $$, and the permits, may be fortunate to not need dredging for another 20 or 30 years. This dredging started a little over a month ago,after a lengthy process, of the permits, then bidding for the right contractor. Then the Contractor who lost the bidding, sued for unfair practice, and finally that got squared away. The Contractor that did win, has a limited time period to finish the job,period. No extensions, because of spawning season for certain fish,or sea life. The dredging takes place around the corner,from where i live. The Porter River,and The Crane River, both located at the end of the Danvers River, bordering both sides of where the Big Blast took place a little over a year ago. The Contractor has two bridges to contend with, the Kernwood Bridge, and the "T" Railroad bridge, plus a channel, that is indeed not in a straight line, curves like a snake. The dredgers work kind of around the clock, because of the tides. The bridges caused a small problem. The larger scows they would fill,were too large to fit thru the pilings. So they ended up with 3 smaller barges, constantly rotating,being filled, one at a time. When a barge gets filled,depending on the tide,it gets pushed down river,thru the bridges,into Beverly Harbor,where the larger Scow is located. Once the Scow is filled,it is towed out 14 miles into Massachusetts Bay, to a specified location for dumping,then returned to be refilled. To hear a tug, or pilot boat rumbling at anytime of the day or night is not unusual now. This is where it sort of begins,once the equipment has been put in place. I need to mention,every mooring in the rivers,had to be removed.Notice the loader is bolted down to the barge! You should see that whole platform twist,as the bucket is filled,and lifted![attachment 77542 DredginginBeverlyharbor138.jpg][attachment 77543 DredginginBeverlyharbor137.jpg] [attachment 77544 DredginginBeverlyharbor141.jpg] [attachment 77545 DredginginBeverlyharbor134.jpg]
