Marine dredging causes environmental damage and can have a cascade of negative impacts on marine flora and fauna.
“Physical injury or death from collisions, noise generation, and increased turbidity are the main ways in which dredging can directly affect marine mammals,” says an article in the ICES Journal of Marine Science.
“Indirect effects of dredging on marine mammals come from changes in their physical environment or their prey. Physical features, such as topography, depth, waves, tidal currents, sediment particle size and suspended sediment concentrations, are altered by dredging, but changes also occur naturally as a result of disturbance events such as tides, waves and storms.
Dredging can also have a detrimental effect on seagrasses, leading to long-term changes in the shoreline and potentially putting onshore communities at risk. Seagrasses can help to resist beach erosion and form part of breakwaters that protect the coast from storm surges. Dredging can expose seagrass beds to choking, removal or destruction.
Fortunately, with the right data, we can limit the negative effects of marine dredging.
Studies have shown that with the right management procedures, the effects of marine dredging can be limited to sound masking, short-term behavioural changes and changes in prey availability.
Dredging contractors can use Frankstar’s mini wave buoys to improve operational safety and efficiency. Operators can access real-time wave data collected by the Mini wave buoy to inform go/no-go decisions, as well as groundwater pressure data collected to monitor water levels at the project site.
In the future, dredging contractors will also be able to use Frankstar’s marine sensing equipment to monitor turbidity, or how clear or opaque the water is. Dredging work stirs up large amounts of sediment, resulting in higher than usual turbidity measurements in the water (i.e. increased opacity). Turbid water is muddy and obscures light and the visibility of marine flora and fauna. With the Mini Wave buoy as the hub for power and connectivity, operators will be able to access measurements from turbidity sensors affixed to smart moorings through Bristlemouth’s open hardware interface, which provides plug-and-play functionality for marine sensing systems. The data is collected and transmitted in real-time, allowing turbidity to be continuously monitored during dredging operations.
Post time: Nov-07-2022