Fenwick Weighing Hydrographic Survey Costs

FENWICK ISLAND – Members with the Town of Fenwick Island’s Environmental Committee are spearheading an effort to determine the condition of waterways along the bay and presented the mayor and councilmembers with cost proposals to conduct a hydrographic survey at last week’s town council meeting.

Alex Daly, member of the Environmental Committee, said the proposed survey will give officials guidance on what needs to be done to improve the canals and access channels within town limits.

“To my knowledge, there are no records of any prior surveys of our canals since the town was incorporated in the 1950s,” he said. “The survey is the first step in any process to dredge or find out what kind of condition our canals are in.”

Daly said the committee referred to Gahagan and Bryant Associates (GBA), a national surveying company with an office in Wilmington, Del., to submit cost proposals for the town’s consideration.

“It’s hard to find a surveyor who does this type of work,” he said. “It’s a very specialized type of work to do hydrographic surveying.”

The options presented by GBA will measure the depths of waterways from the south side of Lighthouse Cove to Little Assawoman Bay, a distance which covers 22,500 linear feet.

In the first option, the company will use a shallow boat and sonar equipment to survey the central portions of the canals, excluding depths along the sides, costing the town $15,450.

The second option will include services from the first, but will use GPS to measure depths along the entire width of each canal, costing the town $21,500.

The third choice allows the town to include volume calculations to either the first or second option, which determines the number of cubic yards that need to be removed based on the town’s selected parameters. This will cost $2,200.

Daly said many boaters have issues getting to and from Little Assawoman Bay through the shallow canals in town and added that he has reached out to officials in South Bethany Beach and Ocean City to learn how they handled prior dredging issues.

“I called the office of (Waterways and Subaqueous Land) because Ocean City told me they got (the Department of Natural Resources) to do theirs because they had some equipment,” he said. “But I contacted to see if the state would help us in this and they said they don’t have any resources or equipment to do this. I think it is a long process and certainly we’ll be looking for grants and whatever we can find to help with any potential costs.”

At the suggestion of Mayor Gene Langan, the proposals were delegated to the town’s Ad hoc Financial Committee for further review of financing options.

Daly said once the survey is complete, the committee will hold a public hearing to discuss findings and determine the next course of action in solving issues along the town’s canals.

“Our committee feels this is the first step and we need to move now since this may take several years to develop a plan and develop resources to address any problems,” he said.

About The Author: Bethany Hooper

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Bethany Hooper has been with The Dispatch since 2016. She currently covers various general stories. Hooper graduated from Stephen Decatur High School in 2012 and the University of Maryland in 2016, where she completed double majors in journalism and economics.