Do these Georgia waterways support ‘significant’ commercial activity? A federal agency says no

Maritime interests on Georgia’s coast are coming out against a plan that could end federal maintenance of several smaller waterways and harbors.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the agency hasn’t dredged nine Georgia waterways in decades – and there hasn’t been much impact as a result.

So they’re considering asking Congress to de-authorize them from federal maintenance.

The agency’s goal is to save taxpayer money on required periodic surveys of the Altamaha River, Oconee River, Ocmulgee River, Bellville Harbor, Darien Harbor, Fancy Bluff Creek, Sapelo Harbor, Satilla River and St. Marys River.

“While there was once a need for federal navigation channels along these waterways, those transportation arteries long ago ceased providing tonnage to the coast,” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials wrote in a July report . “Although there are several smaller vessels that contribute to the local economy by using the channels in the project area, motorized vessel traffic is not substantial.”

But Georgia seafood harvesters and others say that’s not true.

They argue that there’s plenty of commercial activity on Georgia’s smaller coastal waterways to justify keeping them authorized for future dredging.

Charlie Phillips of Townsend, in northern McIntosh County, owns two seafood harvesting businesses, Phillips Seafood and Sapelo Sea Farms.

He described the waterway that he uses the most, the Sapelo River, as a small but not insubstantial community of hard-working business owners at risk of losing their livelihoods.

“There’s a couple of shrimp docks up the river, we pack fish, we do clam aquaculture and we’re going to be starting oyster aquaculture in the next few months,” Phillips said. “I’d say between the shrimp and commercial industries that there’s at least $10 million a year in commercial product that comes in the Sapelo River.  Maybe that’s not a lot.  But it’s a lot for the community.”

Apart from the economic impact, he said he’s also concerned about the safety of commercial and recreational boaters as shoaling makes the waterways gradually less navigable.

“It’s going to need to be dredged sooner or later,” he said, noting that some areas on the Sapelo River already are troublesome for some boats at low tide.

On the opposite end of McIntosh County, at the Port of Darien, a fleet of shrimp boats docked along the Altamaha River waterfront provides a picturesque scene – and a reminder of the shrimp industry’s importance in the region, albeit a declining one.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources issued shrimp harvesting licenses to 117 Georgia residents in 2023.

In 1970s, that number was routinely above 1,000.

Going back even further into history reveals why Congress authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to maintain the Altamaha River, and its tributaries, the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers, in the first place, beginning in 1890.

“Darien became the leading seaport for the shipment of pine timber,” said coastal historian Buddy Sullivan. “There were saw mills all over the area and all of the timber would be gathered at Darien from upriver. Ships would come from Europe, South America and the northeast U.S. to load Georgia timber.”

But timber and another once-important industry, cotton, both peaked, leaving the Georgia coast’s smaller waterways to bleed commercial activity to the state’s larger maritime powerhouses.

“Savannah and Brunswick, of course, are two of the most important seaports in the entire United States,” Sullivan said. “But our smaller communities that don’t get quite the recognition nonetheless have economies that depend on these waterways. It’s essential that we keep them properly maintained.”

Whether “significant” commercial activities on these waterways are a matter of history – or not – could determine whether they continue as authorized for federal maintenance.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers view is clear.

“The federal interest has ceased and deauthorization would not result in significant impacts on the human environment,” the agency’s report said. “If Congress concurs, the Corps expects to save approximately $100,000 in annual federal dollars for surveys and staff oversight.”

The agency took public comment on the matter through Aug. 31.

It’ll be up to Congress to make the final decision.

This story comes to The Current GA through a reporting partnership with GPB News, a non-profit newsroom covering the state of Georgia.