Dredge Clears the Harbor Entrance

Twenty-four hours a day for 37 days straight, Mr. Manson did his job without stopping.

Mr. Manson, the name of a huge dredge operating at Ventura Harbor, sucked out almost 800,000 cubic feet of sand from the harbor entrance at a cost of about $2 million, said Ed Wohlenberg, the general manager of the Harbor District. The Army Corps of Engineers paid for most of the project.

The dredge, operated by the Manson Construction Co. of Seattle, finished its work Monday. Usually the dredging, which has occurred every year for the last five years, clears out only about 300,000 to 400,000 cubic feet of sand. But this year, the dredge was used to clear the “sand trap” on the north side of the harbor. The trap, between two jetties, is meant to collect sand that naturally travels down the coast and would normally clog the harbor entrance.

The dredge sucked up the sand and piped it along the beach and then dumped it into the ocean just south of the Santa Clara River mouth.

Although the job was meant to keep the harbor entrance clear for the rest of the winter, huge storms could quickly deposit another large load, Wohlenberg said.

“It has to get done,” he said. “You just hope that a big storm doesn’t come around and undo all that work.”

The dredge was also used for five days to clear sand from canals in the Ventura Keys, which were last dredged in 1992.

Because the dredging of the Keys was coordinated with the effort to dredge the harbor, the city saved a lot of money, said Deputy City Manager Steve Chase.

“We want to see this type of cooperation continue,” Chase said.