Sea disposal of dredged material

Due to continuous changes in ship channels and harbors, caused by shifting sand and mud, the bottom must be regularly dredged. The disposal of this dredged material had rarely posed a technical problem but rather organizational and economic ones. This situation has drastically changed due to the scarcity of appropriate locations for land disposal as well as considerations related to pollution by heavy metals. For these reasons, open ocean dumping is now being seriously discussed. A group of experts from the German Committee for Ocean Research and Ocean Technology (DKMM) has recommended that related physiographical, biological and geological investigations should be undertaken in the marine environment.