The Long Pond Dredging Project for the Royal Newfoundland Yacht Club

Abstract

Conception Bay South (CBS) is the largest and fastest growing town in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador with a population of about 25,000. It is comprised of eight communities which were amalgamated in 1973. However, the population of CBS is not evenly distributed between these eight communities and one of the most densely populated areas is the community of Long Pond. Long Pond is important to the town of CBS because it is home to the one of the town’s main economic bases; the Long Pond port facility. This area attracts economy from industrial, commercial, recreational, and residential developments. One of the key geological features along the coast of Long Pond is the natural barachois that runs adjacent to the coastline. Currently Long Pond is home to the Royal Newfoundland Yacht Club, where many large vessels make port regularly. However, this was not always possible due to the layout of the channel to the lower harbour and the positioning of the natural barachois. Several unsuccessful solutions were implemented to try to solve this problem. A successful solution came in 1956 when the St. John’s harbour was becoming too congested and it was decided to make a secondary harbour in upper Long Pond. This area was dredged out and at the same time, the members of the Yacht Club petitioned to have the channel to lower Long Pond dredged as well. This enabled larger boats to sail down the channel into the location of the Yacht Club. This paper will discuss the unsuccessful solutions as well as describe the characteristics that made the dredging a successful alternative. Also discussed is the effect these solutions had on the natural barachois and on the community of CBS.