Dredging to clear a growing sand bar at the entrance to the Oceanside harbor is scheduled to start Thursday, six months after the annual spring cleaning was cancelled for the lack of a permit.

Low tides and high surf can cause problems and even capsize boats at the harbor’s mouth, which steadily fills with sand pushed by ocean currents and waves. The goal of dredging is to reduce the hazards by keeping the channel at least 20 feet deep, though at times it can be less than half that.

Some whale-watching and boat-rental businesses at the harbor cancelled trips and lost business over the summer because of the shallow entrance.

Oceanside beaches also have suffered from the delay.


As a byproduct of dredging, sand from the harbor is spread on nearby beaches. Coastal communities throughout Southern California depend on sand replenishment projects to stave off erosion.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for the Oceanside harbor dredging and is required to get the permit every five years from the state Regional Water Quality Control Board. The permit expired this year, and the federal agency was unable to get it renewed in time to begin the work in April.

“They were last in line,” said Steve Rodriguez, the city’s harbor maintenance supervisor.

Other cities such as Carlsbad and San Diego also had applied for permits, which require time-consuming water-quality tests and paperwork.


Oceanside’s goal is to finish the work before the Memorial Day weekend every year, so the city will have fresh sand on the beach and the pipes and heavy equipment off the beach by the time the tourist season begins.

Members of the Oceanside Harbor and Beaches Advisory Committee said at their meeting Monday that the city and the Corps of Engineers should work together to avoid another delay.

“How did we get into this situation, and is anybody doing any oversight so … it’s not going to happen again?” asked committee member Michael Cobas.

“I think we learned a lesson,” said committee member Carolyn Krammer.


The contractor that does the dredging, Manson Construction Co., was scheduled to start a job in Seattle in May and had to leave before the permit was issued, Rodriguez told the committee.

The company is bringing its cargo barge, the H.R. Morris, back from Seattle, he said. It’s expected to arrive at the Oceanside harbor this week after a stop in Long Beach. A crane, pipes and other equipment are already in place at the harbor.

With calm weather and favorable conditions, Manson will finish the dredging by Oct. 29 and be out of the harbor by Nov. 3, Rodriguez said.

Plans call for about 180,000 cubic yards of sand to be removed from the harbor and distributed on the beach from about Surfrider Way to the municipal pier.


Corps officials have said the dredging will resume next spring as usual, and that will bring more sand that could be spread farther south.

The cost of the fall dredging is $3.5 million, according to an announcement the Corps made in August.

Most years, the company removes about 250,000 cubic yards of material from the harbor. Some years, the city pays extra to get more sand on its beaches.

Still, there’s a chance Manson might not return in the spring.


The Corps of Engineers’ contract with Manson expires after the October job and other companies could bid for the work next year, Rodriguez said.

Manson has done the dredging most years for at least a decade. However, a different company received the contract in 2016 and there were problems with permits and equipment, the work started late and finished late, and less material was dredged than planned.

As a result, the next year the contract was returned to Manson, a company founded in 1905 in Puget Sound.

The popular Oceanside harbor was built in the 1960s and has almost 1,000 boat slips and a waiting list for rentals.


philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @phildiehl