The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to conduct Grays Harbor maintenance dredging in the outer harbor utilizing the Corps’ hopper dredge Essayons on April 25.

The Essayons is scheduled to arrive in Grays Harbor next week to start dredging . The vessel will dredge for about 20 days to about the third week of May, primarily in the bar, entrance and Point Chehalis reaches. It will put as much material as possible — up to 600,000 cubic yards — in the South Beach beneficial use placement site, but placement will be highly dependent on marine conditions. The rest of the material will be placed in the Point Chehalis disposal site.

There are many crab pots in the South Beach disposal site, and the Army Corps of Engineers is asking fishermen and crabbers to move their equipment to avoid having it damaged. Disposal and dredge areas need to be kept clear during the dredging, which will conclude no later than May 31.

Fisherman and crabbers are encouraged to position themselves and/or their gear at least 300 feet from any channel and disposal area boundary in order to provide a buffer zone to allow for the gear drifting in to the area. Gear that drifts into the navigation channel, access channel and/or disposal areas may be damaged or destroyed.

Currently, the hopper dredge Yaquina is dredging outer harbor reaches and will depart Grays Harbor on April 25.

The dredge work areas are part of an ongoing dredging project expected to move approximately 800,000 cubic yards of material from the combined regions.