The conferences are organized on more of a needs basis than a schedule, said Hallstein. We got the results of last year s conference and the good comments kept rolling out, Hallstein added. For 71 days, three boats have worked, non-stop, to clear Rota s port of built up sediment, said LT Glen Bourque, harbormaster. This is the first dredging since 1986, he said. Bourque said the tides come in and deposit dirt and other sediment, reducing the depth of the harbor.
Depth is crucial to the maneuverability of large ships.
The project officially began Aug. 15 with the arrival of the first of the three ships, the surveying ship, Plevier. The second ship to arrive was Rign Stroom. Rign Stroom is a plough ship that scrapes the sediment detected by Plevier. The third and final ship in the dredging process is Wado. Wado collected the sediment and traveled six miles out to sea to deposit it.