News Release
| Release Number: | 97-112 |
| Dated: | 10/20/1997 |
| Contact: | Heidi Y. Helwig, 503-808-4510 |
Portland, Ore. -- On Wednesday, Oct. 22 and Thursday, Oct. 23, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is holding another meeting at the Port of Astoria office, One Port Way, Astoria, Ore., to gather and convey more information about its off-shore ocean disposal site selection process.
Wednesday's meeting will begin at 10 a.m. and close at 5 p.m., with an hour break from noon to 1 p.m. On Thursday, the group will meet from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with an hour break from noon to 1 p.m.
Earlier this month, individual fishers and crabbers who work off the coast near the mouth of the Columbia River provided the Corps with information about their most productive fishing sites. That information will be presented during Wednesday's meeting in the form of a map with a series of transparency overlays depicting important resources, such as fishing grounds and resource areas, according to Kim Larson, Corps fishery biologist leading the site selection process.
"We hope that the overlay process will show some open spaces, indicating areas where resources are less populated and sites that would be more suitable for ocean disposal," Larson said. The Corps is hoping that the group can come to a consensus about which areas are vital and which sites could accommodate a disposal site, while maintaining safety in the channel for the fishers and pilots.
The Corps is working to identify new long-term sites to accommodate dredged material removed every year from the Columbia River mouth as part of the Corps' dredging and channel maintenance mission. Routine maintenance dredging is required to maintain the Columbia River navigation channel. Current ocean disposal sites are beginning to mound, potentially creating dangerous wave actions for shippers. .