Regional Coastal Management in Cape Cod using the Ellicott® Series 670
The Problem: Navigating the “Graveyard of the Atlantic”
Cape Cod’s coastline is famous for its beauty, but its shifting sands and powerful tides create a constant battle for maritime safety and property protection.
- Critical Shoaling: The Cape’s many inlets and harbors are prone to rapid siltation. Without regular maintenance, these waterways become impassable for the massive commercial fishing fleet, the Coast Guard, and the thousands of recreational boaters who drive the local economy.
- Severe Beach Erosion: The same forces that clog the harbors strip sand from the public beaches, threatening multi-million dollar waterfront infrastructure and vital tourism assets.
- The Logistical Challenge: With 15 different towns spread across the Cape, it was historically inefficient and expensive to hire private contractors for small-to-medium maintenance jobs at dozens of different sites.
The Solution: The Ellicott® Series 670 Dragon® (Cod Fish)
In a landmark move for regional cooperation, Barnstable County established its own dredging program, anchored by the purchase of an Ellicott® Series 670 Dragon® cutter suction dredge, affectionately named the Cod Fish.
- The Equipment: The Series 670 is a “swinging ladder” capable dredge with a 14-inch (350 mm) discharge. Its design is ideal for the narrow channels and varied conditions found in New England’s coastal ponds and inlets.
- Maximum Portability: A key requirement for the County was the ability to transport the dredge by truck. The Ellicott® 670 can be easily disassembled, moved over land, and reassembled, allowing it to service multiple towns in a single season.
- Dual-Purpose Design: The Cod Fish was specifically outfitted to handle both navigational deepening and beach nourishment. It extracts high-quality “beach-compatible” sand from harbor channels and pumps it directly onto adjacent eroding shorelines.
- County-Level Efficiency: By operating their own Ellicott® dredge, the County can provide dredging services to its member towns at a fraction of the cost of mobilization fees charged by large-scale commercial firms.
The Outcome: Decades of Coastal Resilience
The Barnstable County program has become the national gold standard for municipal dredging cooperation.
- Restored Navigational Safety: Since its inception, the Cod Fish has successfully maintained dozens of critical channels, ensuring that the Cape’s harbors remain open for commercial and emergency vessels regardless of shifting sands.
- Economic Protection: By nourishing public beaches like those in Sandwich, Yarmouth, and Falmouth, the dredge protects the “economic engine” of the region—tourism—while simultaneously safeguarding shorefront property values.
- Proven Longevity: The program’s reliance on Ellicott® engineering has resulted in decades of high uptime. The County’s success with the Cod Fish eventually led to the expansion of the fleet, proving the long-term ROI of the Ellicott® model.
- Environmental Stewardship: The program operates with surgical precision, adhering to strict “time-of-year” (TOY) restrictions to protect winter flounder and piping plovers, demonstrating that industrial-strength dredging can coexist with sensitive ecosystems.