Dredging

Dredging

Waterways underpin our way of life and our city’s prosperity. Our role managing the waterways isn’t just about what’s on top of the waterways, it’s also about what’s happening below!

With immense economic, social, and environmental value, the Gold Coast’s waterways are the lifeblood of our community.

Ensuring clear, accessible, and safe waterways for all is a top priority. 

Dredging is essential maintenance to ensure that navigation channels remain accessible. The Gold Coast Waterways Authority (GCWA) takes pride in keeping these channels navigable and secure. Balancing safety, funding, and environmental preservation is at the heart of our ongoing dredging work. 

Learn more about our impactful dredging projects on Our Projects page.

What is dredging?

Dredging involves extracting sediment ((sand, silt and mud)) from the navigation channels. By relocating this material, we deepen and widen our waterways to ensure unimpeded passage for all waterway users.

Dredging of the Gold Coast’s waterways is undertaken by both GCWA and the City of Gold Coast (CoGC). To learn about the CoGC’s dredging and beach nourishment program visit this webpage.

Check out how we’re maintaining navigational
access in Gold Coast waterways:

Maintenance

Waterways are a complex system channels that are affected by tides, weather, and sediment build-up. Coastal systems are dynamic, and sand movement can make channels too narrow or shallow to maintain safe access and navigation. In some instances, dredging is not required and the navigation channel can be realigned to ensure safe navigation is maintained. 

Benefits

The dredging process has a number of benefits, these include:

  • Open access for vessels on our waterways
  • Proactive maintenance of channels at risk of becoming too shallow
  • Reuse of sand to nourish neighbouring beaches and replenish eroded areas
  • Reuse of sand to upgrade foreshores and amenities as well as landscaping
  • Flood prevention / mitigation by increasing channel capacity
  • Reduced risk to properties and amenities through flooding
  • Improved water quality
  • Improving the health of aquatic ecosystems.

What to expect

You’ll see our contractors working on dredging maintenance along the waterways and foreshore. When we undertake dredging projects, we will notify the public to ensure everyone is aware that work is underway (or scheduled) on our website and via our Facebook channel.

Some common dredging vessels you’ll see are the trailing suction hopper dredge or cutter suction. Using a cutter head, it moves across the bottom of the channel, sucking up sediment and delivering it through a floating pipeline to the adjacent foreshore. With this machine, we collect sediment from the bottom of the channel and move and shape reused sand. Dredged sediment is often clean sand that can be used to replenish and restore beaches, shorelines, and habitats.

For a short period of time, dredged sand may appear dark due to fine sediment particles from the seabed. The dark appearance of this sand will change as the particles settle out and become bleached by the sun. The sand will return to its natural ‘white’ colour within two months of dredging.

What are the environmental impacts?

Dredging is highly regulated and subject to State and Commonwealth legislation. GCWA undertakes extensive environmental impact assessments to meet all required approval requirements.

Our Dredging – Navigation Channels, Anchorages and Destinations Plan

The GCWA monitors an extensive network of navigation channels across the Gold Coast waterways. Our ‘navigation network’ broadly consists of all elements that contribute to navigational access, including the channels themselves, but also access infrastructures, (including hard infrastructures such as beacons, lights and buoys),  and destinations. 

Our Dredging – Navigation Channels, Anchorages and Destinations Plan is designed to ensure safe and accessible waterways for all users. This comprehensive guide provides our employees, the Chief Executive Officer of GCWA, and the GCWA Board with the information necessary to make informed decisions about dredging navigation channels and anchorages.

We also want to inform waterways users of the considerations made when dredging navigation channels and anchorages.

Dredging – Navigation Channels, Anchorages and Destinations Plan

Download PDF

What are the environmental impacts?

Dredging is highly regulated and subject to State and Commonwealth legislation. GCWA undertakes extensive environmental impact assessments to meet all required approval requirements.

Our Dredging – Navigation Channels, Anchorages and Destinations Plan

The GCWA monitors an extensive network of navigation channels across the Gold Coast waterways. Our ‘navigation network’ broadly consists of all elements that contribute to navigational access, including the channels themselves, but also access infrastructures, (including hard infrastructures such as beacons, lights and buoys),  and destinations 

Our Dredging – Navigation Channels, Anchorages and Destinations Plan is designed to ensure safe and accessible waterways for all users. This comprehensive guide provides our employees, the Chief Executive Officer of GCWA, and the GCWA Board with the information necessary to make informed decisions about dredging navigation channels and anchorages.

We also want to inform waterways users of the considerations made when dredging navigation channels and anchorages.

Dredging – Navigation Channels, Anchorages and Destinations Plan

Download PDF

Report for Gold Coast Waterways Access Needs Study – Final Report

The report for Gold Coast Waterways Access Needs Study – Final Report documents the marine industry’s perceived need in relation to navigational channel profiles in Gold Coast waterways. It also provides estimates of the investment required to establish and maintain
the identified profiles, and assesses the merits of that investment. This document was co-funded by the Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning and was developed in part to inform their Southern Moreton Bay Marine Infrastructure Master Plan.

Report for Gold Coast Waterways Access Needs Study

Download PDF

Who’s Who in the Blue

Who’s Who in the Blue explains who is responsible for managing, protecting and
regulating Queensland’s waterways, particularly on the Gold Coast.

It clarifies agency roles across safety, environmental protection, pollution response,
compliance and infrastructure, helping avoid confusion and duplication.

Overall, it’s a quick reference guide that supports coordination, accountability and
effective waterway stewardship.

Download Who’s Who in the Blue

Acknowledgement of Country

The Gold Coast Waterways Authority acknowledges and pays respect to the traditional custodians, the Yugambeh peoples of South East Queensland, including the Kombumerri, Mununjali, Wangerriburra, Bullongin and other clans, and their Elders past, present and emerging. We recognise their unique and ongoing spiritual and cultural connection with the land and waters of the Gold Coast area.

Any damaged or missing aids to navigation such as beacons, buoys, markers or signs, should be reported as soon as possible on 07 5539 7350.
For community engagement, communications or media enquiries please contact mail@gcwa.qld.gov.au

Access, Management & Destinations

  • Access & Management

    Information on Anchoring & Mooring, Boating, Dredging, Operations Team & Tidal Works

    Learn More

  • Our Destinations

    GCWA managed multi-use destinations, building infrastructure for commercial and recreation use of Gold Coast waterways.

    Learn More
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