MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 24, 2021
In the past six months, ferry runs between Great Chebeague Island and Cousins Island in Yarmouth have been canceled nearly two dozen times because it is not safe for the ferry to go through a channel that has filled in with silt and eelgrass since it was last dredged nearly two decades ago. After years of study, the Army Corps of Engineers has proposed a project to dredge the channel, but both town officials and the project manager say it may be another year before federal funding is available to clear it to a depth safe for boats to operate during low tide. Approximately 34,000 cubic yards of gravel, sand and silt will be removed and towed about 15 miles south to a site designated for dredged material. About 47,195 square feet of eelgrass habitat will be permanently lost. The Army Corps plans to mitigate this loss of habitat by restoring 1.7 acres of eelgrass elsewhere within Maine waters.