Suction Dredging

Photo Credit: Karl Jansen

This photo shows the outflow of a dredging operation in St. Joseph, MI. The vessel in the background is sucking up material from the bottom of the lake to deepen the channel leading into the harbor. The material is then pushed through a pipe to the shoreline, where it is deposited. Dredging in this manner serves to maintain the depth of waterways for commercial vessels, and to sustain the shoreline in some capacity near popular beach areas.