Dredging: how the hell does that work?

Ben Mendelsohn sez, "Dredging - the mechanized transport of underwater sediments - is one of the most elemental of the infrastructural support systems that underlie modern societies. Through dredging, we act as geologic agents - moving earth in what amounts to a new geologic cycle. This video introduces dredging, its landscapes, and some of the fascinating technologies that we use to manage it. It was produced in support of DredgeFest NYC, a symposium on the human acceleration of sediments, to be held in New York City on September 28-29." (Thanks, Ben!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Yep

I have a symposium on the human acceleration of sediments every day. In my bathroom. Hey-ooooooh!
- http://www.matthewpetty.com/ Matthew Petty
  
  “Yeah, you might not want to go in there for an epoch…”
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  Poop!
http://twitter.com/BonzoDog1 BonzoDog1

The quick answer: It doesn’t work.
- KBert
  
  Not so fast; stay tuned for the latest Dredge Report.
- stillcantfightthedite
  
  The long answer: For removing built up sediments from erosion it can serve as a temporary solution, but unless the source of these sediments is eliminated or mitigated, future dredging is inevitable.
  - http://twitter.com/doingitwrong Tim Maly
    
    It’s worse than inevitable. Most of the current dredge techniques used today end up accelerating the erosive forces that led to the build up in the first place. Dredging begets more dredging more often.
Paul Renault

Dredging is also amongst the most destructive ways to fish.

I don’t eat scallops, for this reason. Delicious scallops…
- http://www.facebook.com/MichaelDawson5423 Michael Dawson
  
  Yes because dragging a dredge across the top of sandy bottoms dents the grains of sand or something.
  - Paul Renault
    
    I have a friend who dives for a living. He tells me that you can always tell where a sea bottom has been dragged/dredged for scallops: 100 ft-wide swaths of nothing. No rocks, no vegetation, no fish – just barren floor.
http://halfbakedmaker.org Robert Baruch

OK, the video posted that purports to introduce “dredging, its landscapes, and some of the fascinating technologies that we use to manage it” is one minute 26 seconds long, and pretty much content-free. Also, the Dredgefest NYC URL is a 404.
- http://codeflow.org/ Florian Bösch
  
  It’s a trap
  - http://www.xradiograph.com/ OtherMichael
    
    With that much splashing, I think you mean “tarp”.
    
    Also, try http://bit.ly/dredgefest or http://dredgeresearchcollaborative.org/dredgefest/
Lobster

Here you guys go, dredging up THAT again…
robdobbs

Was this narrated by Brad Pitt?
- IlluminatedOne
  
  I think it’s the same guy who narrated the Zeitgeist movies?
http://www.xradiograph.com/ OtherMichael

I was at the 2011 DREDGEFEST . I think.

I thought I saw Jane’s Additiction playing on stage at one point, but after a few bottles of JD and a couple hundred thousand tons of silty-clay, it’s hard to remember much.
- timquinn
  
  that was woodstock 2
http://www.facebook.com/michael.seligman.102 Michael Seligman

My sediment, exactly.
bjacques

What? No mention of Bagger 288??

(Bagger means dredger in German and Dutch)