Whitsand takes dredge spoil

The operation is part of a £335 million commercial development plan for Plymouth’s Millbay Dock.

It has been estimated that nearly 50,000 tonnes of spoil will be dredged by English Cities Fund.

The developer is licenced to dispose of the waste in the designated dumping area until 16 August.

Whitsand Bay’s Scylla, the decommissioned frigate sunk as an artificial reef in 2004, lies about a kilometre from one edge of the dumping zone.

The WW2 wreck James Eagan Layne also lies nearby.

The dumping area has been used over many years both for commercial harbour maintenance and for clearing approaches to Plymouth’s naval dockyard in the River Tamar.

Anti-dumping campaigners have long claimed that marine life, divers and fishermen can be affected by silt carpets which can form, depending on prevailing sea conditions.

For the current operation, the Marine Management Organisation identified contaminants in the 1m to 2m strata of the Millbay sea floor.

Sediment dredged from this section must not be dumped at sea but disposed of by other means.

Related links
Whitsand warning
Scylla's wildlife time-line