The State of Hawaii said that the removal of 42,000 cubic yards of black sand, rocks and boulders, deposited by the 2018 eruption of Kīlauea, has been underway for two weeks to clear the boat ramp at Pohoiki. It is the largest dredging job ever for the DLNR Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR).
Heavy equipment is being used to scoop large buckets of volcanic debris from near the boat ramp to near the shoreline.
Once the inner basin is cleared, a crane will be brought to the site to create a wide entrance.
DOBOR Engineer Finn McCall said: “ The entrance will be approximately 320 feet wide. There really wasn’t a channel before. It was just an open bay, but the designated entrance, I think, was 40 feet.”
Also, McCall described the Pohoiki dredging as unprecedented. For most dredging projects at state small boat harbors, fine sediment and sand is removed. For this one, a lot of heavy material is being hauled away.
Most harbors in the area need to be dredged every seven or eight years.
“ For Pohoiki it remains to be seen. We really can’t predict how quickly the new channel might fill back in and how soon we’d have to dredge. We’re just going to have to closely monitor it after the project is complete ,” McCall concluded.