TREMONT—Never say never.

Thirty-five years after Bass Harbor was last dredged, after countless attempts at striking a deal with the Army Corps of Engineers to have the service provided again, it looks like there may be some hope in sight.

STAFF PHOTO BY HEATHER WILKINSON

Crowded Bass Harbor may have additional mooring space if dredging plans come through. Town officials met recently with the Army Corps of Engineers to discuss the possibilites.

On Oct. 28, selectmen, the town’s harbor committee, Seal Cove Ramp Committee and Town Manager Michael Chammings gathered to discuss the possibility of an upcoming dredging. They met with General Grant Hammond, a representative from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Harbormaster Timothy Butler said he was optimistic after leaving the hourlong meeting. "The possibility of dredging there is something more positive now than it has been in the last 10 years," he said. "There’s still a lot we have to go through and it could be done within five years, three years if we work quick and as hard as we can."

He said the silt that has built up since 1964 has made the harbor more shallow and allows less room for moorings. This has become a problem which could be exacerbated in the coming year. Butler said the coming year’s waiting list for moorings has risen considerably simply because people have heard the harbor might be dredged soon.

The harbor is divided up in several plots encompassing different types of boats requiring moorings. On the "commercial end" there are 88 moorings for working boats and fishing vessels. Directly in back of this area is a place for pleasure boats—yachts and sailboats—with 46 moorings. And outside of the inner harbor there are a "bunch of different moorings," Butler said. "But you get outside the inner harbor and it’s more risky to have your boat there."

Butler said Chammings has been an "incredible help" in continuing to talk with the Army Corps about the problem. Butler’s father, Frederick Butler, a member of the harbor committee, agreed.

"With the town manager there now we’ve got a good chance that this actually might happen within the next 10 years," he said. "But just like we have before we’ve got so much red tape to go through."

The "before" Frederick Butler talked of has been a discrepancy over dredging boundary lines. Only lines that have been surveyed and accepted by the Army Corps can be dredged. In past years, then-selectman Al Price began looking into the possibility of another dredging. Noticing silt buildup was mounting yearly, Price contacted the Army Corps and got the ball rolling.

Lawrence Closson, harbor committee member, said Price was able to negotiate at least the possibility that Bass Harbor might again be dredged. "He did a lot...but you have to go through and get permits from everybody there is right down to the 13th sweep in Augusta." He said whenever wetlands, marsh areas or shoreland are brought up, an extensive line of permits and regulations have to be met. Then it’s up to the Army Corps to decide when and if the harbor is in need of dredging.

"It’s a government-controlled item, so they do all the decision making," said Closson. "They said it could happen soon. But after spending 20 years in the military I can tell you soon is a mysterious amount of time."

Closson said that if the harbor continues to fill for another five years, more moorings will be lost and one of the island’s last working waterfronts will diminish.

Harbormaster Butler said he has working boats from residents of Scarborough, Portland and several other parts of the state moored there. "It’s good that they want to come here," he said. "They need to work too."

The dredging process is not a simple one. The last time Bass Harbor was dredged it took between three and four months to complete, Closson recalled. State-employed outfits tugged a large barge, with a crane mounted on top of it, into the harbor.

After removing all of the moorings, traps, lobsters and other valuable goods from the harbor the dredging began. On nearly every low tide, whether it be day or middle of the night, the work would take place. The crane, with a large bucket on it, would be lowered into the harbor, the silt taken out would be put on the deck of the barge. When it was sufficiently full, the barge was towed back out to sea.

The barge itself was built with a bottom that opens so the silt can be redeposited on the sea floor. Dredging would be a costly process for any individual town. That is why, since the harbor is actually controlled by state and federal mandates, dredging has historically been provided by the government, Closson said.