OUR OPINION: ‘Inkie’ Muddies Dredging Efforts

BY JOE SHAHEELI

By pushing a claim continued dredging of the Delaware River could endanger the Atlantic sturgeon, the Philadelphia Inquirer has recklessly muddied the efforts of Port and elected officials, the Army Corps of Engineers, economists and unions to give Philadelphia the only chance it has to compete with other eastern ports.

Hundreds of millions have been committed and used to dredge the Delaware to give it a 45-foot channel, five feet more than its present depth. That is now the depth needed by the majority of cargo ships, which otherwise could not make it to the Port of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s international gateway to the world’s oceans.

The same groups that have been fighting dredging are now using their concern over the spawning habits of the sturgeon, though they admit they have little information and history on where and when this fish spawns. They do admit they like to spawn under tankers around Marcus Hook and like the murky bottom offered by the river.

Now will these same groups demand the refineries located there, soon to be closed, must guarantee they’ll maintain a “graveyard” of rusting unused tankers at those port terminals?

And the question not addressed, is why hasn’t the year-round dredging of the Delaware River to maintain its present depth, for almost three quarters of century, not stopped the sturgeon from now appearing more frequently and in greater numbers?

The Inquirer story was illustrated by a 1905 photo of several huge sturgeon caught on the Delaware. So prized were they for their caviar they were almost fished out of existence. So why blame dredging?

The Corps of Engineers doesn’t believe the Atlantic sturgeon is in any trouble from dredging. It has allocated almost $17 million to continue dredging the river to its needed depth of 45 feet. Credited was a bipartisan effort led by US Sen. Bob Casey D-Pa.). The area scheduled for dredging is the river channel between Penns Landing and Essington. This follows up $15 million committed by Gov. Tom Corbett.

   Send article as PDF