Shallow Water Habitat & Dredging

Time to Recovery
Recovery of the seabed and benthos following dredging
depends on a variety of factors, such as the intensity of
dredging dredging, and the nature of the benthos
In shallow waters, dredging below the photic zone or altering the
benthic material (e.g. convert a sandy area to a muddy area) could
result in a permanently changed communities
Sites that have been dredged repeatedly over several
years may take longer to recover than sites dredged over
short periods (Boyd et al. 2004, 2005)