The main body of this document is a discussion of dredging impacts and 

 habitat enhancement opportunities. A brief assessment of each potential impact 

 or each habitat enhancement opportunity is made and the reader is referred to 

 the pertinent literature for further study. The discussion is divided into 

 two major categories of U.S. Waters: "coastal waters" (Part III) includes all 

 marine waters of the United States and its territories; "rivers" (Part IV) 

 includes the navigable streams of the United States above saltwater influence. 

 Our original intent was to include a third major section about the Great 

 Lakes. However, due to a dearth of information and a lack of opportunity to 

 review the available Great Lakes literature, we believe that such a section 

 would convey a false impression of completeness. Thus, the small amount of 

 information assembled about the Great Lakes was included as an appendix. In 

 our opinion more work will have to be done before a comprehensive synopsis can 

 be written about the impacts of dredging in the Great Lakes. 



This review covers impacts to fish, other aquatic organisms, and wildlife 

 (as well as habitat enhancement opportunities) resulting from construction of 

 new navigational channels and maintenance dredging of existing channels. Both 

 dredging and disposal stages are discussed. This review does not cover other 

 types of dredging such as canal construction for oil and gas exploration and 

 extraction, dredging for residential or commerical development, sand and 

 gravel dredging, shell dredging, or channelization of streams for flood con- 

 trol. 



