Concerns raised over dredging in Amble after surfer falls ill

By Lauren Coulson
Published 5th Oct 2023, 12:00 BST
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Concerns have been raised over the dredging taking place in Amble but marina bosses have given assurances that all the correct measures are in place.

Calls had been previously made for the urgent dredging of Amble harbour to prevent fishing boats and leisure craft getting stuck.

Joanne Handyside called on Warkworth Harbour Commissioners (WHC) to take action after her fisherman husband got stuck going out of the harbour on a high tide.

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Now a surfer has raised concerns over the water quality after they claimed they became ill from silt being released into the water.

The outfall pipe has a ’Dunlop’ floating end piece designed to help disperse the silt with the tide to prevent any shoaling of mud.The outfall pipe has a ’Dunlop’ floating end piece designed to help disperse the silt with the tide to prevent any shoaling of mud.
The outfall pipe has a ’Dunlop’ floating end piece designed to help disperse the silt with the tide to prevent any shoaling of mud.

They said they could hear the sediment going through the pipe as they walked down the beach and, once in the water, could smell the slight scent of eggs and sulphur in the water and found a lot of black clouded areas.

The surfer had bad sickness and diarrhoea for a couple of days afterwards and has said they won’t be surfing there again anytime soon.

Amble Marina have responded to this and have assured that the dredge and silt is regularly monitored.

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With licence from the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) they have a 900m long temporary pipeline which attaches to dredger John M and crosses the river bed, over the sand dunes and out to sea to an approved disposal point known as TY022.

A dark colour can be seen in the water.A dark colour can be seen in the water.
A dark colour can be seen in the water.

A spokesperson from Amble Marina said: “To acquire a licence the sediment has to be tested to exacting conditions (every three years) and qualify safe to dispose of at sea (this includes being free of an exhaustive list of toxins, PCBs and heavy metals etc). The sediment is the same silt that readily flows downstream hence its muddy brown colour.

"The MMO require extensive information about the conditions surrounding the disposal at sea which we have collated over 30 years of carrying out maintenance dredge campaigns. The dredge is monitored strictly pre, during and post operation.

“The disposal point is in a designated area agreed on by the MMO and its stakeholders such as The Environment Agency, Cefas and Natural England. These agencies select the disposal point to mitigate impact on the surrounding coastline. We carry out inspection on the outfall every morning and have suffered no detrimental effects."