Dredging at the mouth of the Cobourg harbour will be taking place starting this week.

Chief administrative officer Stephen Peacock said the main portion of the dredging will be taking place near the mouth of the harbour, but also in the harbour basin.

Last year, Cobourg’s dredger spent several weeks removing silt from the area of Cobourg harbour, but tests have shown regular maintenance will help maintain the depth of the popular harbour.

“We actually have 5,000 cubic metres a year that runs through the system on an annual basis,” Peacock said.

“A portion of that will deposit at the mouth of the harbour so we’ll carry out annual maintenance and that’s part of the program for the dredge.”

Last year, the dredger concentrated, mainly on the area of the inner harbour.

It’s unknown how long the dredging will take, but Peacock

added, the harbour will still be open as most boats coming into the harbour won’t be a problem.

Cobourg’s dredger will aim for a depth of 12 feet in the area of the harbour mouth.

The dredger will not only be busy in Cobourg, but Peacock added, although he couldn’t speak specifically, “it looks like we’ll have a full program for our dredge both in our harbour and other municipalities (in southern Ontario) this summer.”

As a result of the silt buildup near the mouth of the harbour, the Canadian Coast Guard cutter Cape Mercy will be temporarily docked at Oshawa Harbour.

Captain Colin Slade said when the cutter first arrived at Cobourg harbour at the end of March, there was just over one foot of clearance between the keel’s depth at 4.5 feet.

A short time later when it was safe to do so, Slade said the Cape Mercy sailed to the nearest port which is Oshawa.

“Coming in on a rough sea we like to have a little bit of a safety margin under the keel. I’d like to have seven or eight feet depending on where you are and what part of the wave you’re coming in on during a rough sea.”

Judging the depth coming in to Cobourg, Slade said the problem wasn’t with the harbour itself, but you could almost draw a line from lighthouse to lighthouse where there is a sandbar.

The level of the lake is normal conditions for this time of year for water level.

via Harbour dredging starts this week – Northumberland Today – Ontario, CA.