A decision is expected before the end to the month and the beginning of striped bass spawning season. The fish lives much of its life at sea, but spawns in freshwater. Its young use the freshwater marshes of the Savannah River as a nursery. Striped bass fishing has been closed on the lower Savannah for nearly a decade because the river's population has crashed. The fish in the lower Savannah are maintained by stocking programs, but reproductive success of the striped bass in the river has been limited.
Scientists suspect that environmental degradation has led to the fish's decline.
The 1999 Water Resources Development Act qualified the project for federal cost sharing for the feasibility, design and construction phases. It pins final approval on completion of a study analyzing the impact on the environment of dredging the river channel to various depths between 42 feet and 48 feet. The Georgia Ports Authority's Stakeholder Evaluation Group, or SEG, continues to meet to help design scientific studies about various environmental issues surrounding the project including salinity in the river, dissolved oxygen in the river, freshwater wetlands impact, beach erosion, endangered species and other issues. The result of such studies will make up the Tier II Environmental Impact Statement. That document, as well as an updated economic study, will have to be approved by various agencies before the project can move forward.