AIWA Holds Annual Meeting

The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association held its annual meeting on November 15 and 16 in Charleston, South Carolina. The meeting brings together representatives from the United States Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States Coast Guard (USCG), elected officials, business leaders and other stakeholders of the waterway.

The 1,100-plus-mile coastal waterway stretching from Norfolk, Virginia, to Miami, Florida has seen more funding for dredging over the past several years, reducing the dangerous navigation areas, however the authorized 12-foot depth has been reduced to less than five feet in some areas. The two-day meeting featured a series of updates, reports and discussions revolving around how to improve navigation. Specific topics included the state of the waterway and hurricane recovery efforts; a thin-layer placement demonstration; how to better manage dredged material; the Corps Engineering with Nature initiative; compliance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation Management Act for maintenance dredging; and the use of geophysics for dredging. Presentations were also given my NOAA, USCG, the Maritime Administration (MARAD), and the Federal Highway Administration.