According to their website, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, deployed the Wilmington District, shallow draft dredge, Murden, to Lake Montauk to conduct vital dredging operations aimed at maintaining safe and efficient navigation for commercial and recreational vessels.
In addition to water depths as shallow as three feet in some areas, increased shoaling has caused unsafe navigational conditions- including the risk of recreational and commercial vessels running aground. [Shoaling is the deformation of incident waves on the lower shoreface that starts when the water depth becomes less than about half of the wavelength, causing the waves to become steeper: increase in amplitude and decrease in wavelength.] To reduce the shoaling, the call for emergency dredging was made. Through a joint effort, federal, state, and town officials worked to get the funding, permits and equipment needed for Emergency Dredging of the inlet.
Beginning February 17, 2025, the Murden began dredging the inlet to 12 feet. The original plan, which had been delayed until later this year, was for the dredging to take place in 2024 – to a depth of 17 feet.
On Tuesday 2/18/25 in Montauk, Congressman Nick LaLota met with staff from the Army Corp, East Hampton Town officials, and members of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association to discuss the dredging project.
LaLota said that dredging of the Montauk Inlet would clear it to 12 feet below mean water level, and confirmed that the dredge will return in the fall to dredge the inlet to a depth of 17 feet.
Alex Young, of the Army Corps of Engineers, said that the project will see about 100,000 cubic yards of sand pulled from the shoals and deposited onto erosion-wracked areas to the west of the jetty. The dredging project will once again make the inlet safe for our fishing fleet to enter the harbor. There have been times boats had to wait for the tide to return to port making it very costly for our fishermen.
“The Montauk Commercial Fishing Fleet is grateful for the gargantuan effort of Congressman LaLota and his staff to bring the Army Corps of Engineers’ Dredge Murden to Montauk in record time.
When a boat runs aground, it can be life-threatening and, in some cases, you only have seconds to react; Cong. Lalota’s efforts have taken that concern off the table for New York State’s largest commercial fishing port.
Montauk is the 51st largest commercial fishing port in the nation based on poundage (2023 year,) the most recent for which the feds have totals for) and 53rd based on dollar value. Top 25 % of ports in the nation, not bad for a town of 3000 people year-round.
Economically the pack houses were really hurting it was vital that they do the emergency work now, so the offshore fleet could work.”
https://www.ehamptonny.gov/1865/Army-Corps-of-Engineers-Lake-Montauk-Har
Lake Montauk Navigational Improvement Project will increase the maintenance dredging of the Lake Montauk inlet from 12 ft. to 17 ft. at mean lower low water (with an additional 2 ft. of over-dredging authorized); resulting in safer navigation, especially for deeper draft vessels, and less frequent dredging intervals.
The dredged material, which consists of an estimated 100,000 cubic yards of beach compatible sediment, will be deposited along the shorelines of the easternmost properties west of the inlet. The exact dimensions of the sand placement will be determined by the specific volume of sediment within the inlet at time the dredging occurs and the participation of the private property owners closest to the western jetty. The deposition basin adjacent to the channel will increase from 50 feet to 100 feet in width. The deeper and wider navigational channel will increase the dredging interval from an average of four years to seven with the dredge spoil continuing to be deposited west of the western jetty for beach nourishment.
