DMF Additional Comments OakIsRenourish_2021 Deaton

March 15, 2021
TO: Heather Coats, DCM
FROM: Anne Deaton, DMF Habitat Program Supervisor
SUBJECT: 2021/2022 Town of Oak Island Beach Nourishment Expansion, from borrow sites at Jay
Bird Shoals and Central Reach
The Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) provided comments on the above referenced permit application
on January 15, 2021. This proposed project is the second of three planned nourishment events described
in the project narrative. The DMF is submitting additional comments on this project due to new
information obtained by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
As requested by the NMFS, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) permit for the first nourishment
event required that monitoring of Jay Bird Shoals be completed: “SC #25 Essential Fish Habitat
Conservation Recommendations: The applicant shall monitor the permitted dredged area to evaluate
sediment accumulation rates within Jay Bird Shoals. The applicant shall survey the dredged area within
Jay Bird Shoals, including all areas located 500 feet outside of the dredged area, for a period of three
years after dredging.” The first permitted project, referenced here, has not been completed, and therefore
monitoring has not been done. This second project, a major modification to Permit No. 31-20, proposes to
dredge the same borrow areas to a deeper depth. If granted, monitoring of the original project would not
be possible.
The proposed Oak Island borrow areas on Jay Bird Shoals are east of existing borrow sites used by Bald
Head Island. A monitoring report completed by Bald Head Island in 2020, includes information on
refilling of the borrow areas (Olsen Assoc. Inc. 2020). According to that report, of 1,835,700 cu yd of
material dredged, there have been gains and losses over the ten-year period. However, there has only been
a net gain of 37% of the material excavated in ten years. This information suggests that these borrow
areas take long time periods to recover to their original elevation. Also, a dredged borrow area likely
requires much more than one year for natural sediment infilling.
The DMF supports the NMFS concerns that the cumulative impacts of repeated dredging on Jay Bird
Shoals be assessed comprehensively, before additional excavation on the shoal be permitted. The DMF
requests that monitoring be initiated after the second dredging event and that no other dredging be
permitted at Jay Bird Shoals until a comprehensive assessment is completed.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide additional comments.

Olsen Associates, Inc. 2020. Bald Head Island, NC. Beach Monitoring Program. Monitoring Report No.
18 (May 2019 to May 2020). 65 p.