Are the nation's ports adequate for our present and future needs? This volume points out that no significant new deep-water construction has occurred for a decade, and provides the information and analysis needed to goad the ports and the federal government into action. The book asks three questions: Is additional port construction and maintenance dredging needed now or over the next 20 years? What would prevent dredging if it is needed? What alternatives could make additional dredging possible? The book identifies several problems in dredging ports, including the long interval between a decision to deepen a port and the time the alterations are complete. The United States needs to speed port construction to meet changing needs, and the committee recommends that we prepare for future needs by dredging now.

The United States Government Printing Office (GPO) was created in June 1860, and is an agency of the the U.S. federal government based in Washington D.C. The office prints documents produced by and for the federal government, including Congress, the Supreme Court, the Executive Office of the President and other executive departments, and independent agencies. The Coastal Zone Information Center (CZIC) collection provides access to nearly 5,000 coastal related documents that the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) received from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Central Library. The collection provides almost 30 years of data and information crucial to the understanding of U.S. coastal management and NOAA's mission to sustain healthy coasts. This is one of their documents.

The varied use of dredgers has led to the development of a variety of dredger types, from small ones appropriate to modest inshore projects, to very large sea-going dredgers for large-scale projects calling for the storage of dredged material within the ship. This book, which is the first book dedicated to dredging and its environmental impact in the widest sense, contains chapters on dredging operations in the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, Spain, the US, China and Singapore. Additional chapters discuss more general aspects such as dredging techniques, monitoring of dredging operations, and the prospects of dredging in a changing environment. As well as providing information on dredging activities in different areas, it gives an insight into the activities and problems (environmental or other) involved in modern dredging. It will be of interest to professionals and students alike.

A clarion call for sustainable oceans policy