Gunter GTrans North Am Wildl Conf no 37, pp 110-121 19722010-02-152010-02-151972http://hdl.handle.net/1969.3/23170110-121A great deal of opposition among the general populace of coastal areas has developed to digging dead reef shell buried under the mud in spite of the fact that the operations vary from innocuous to beneficial, and in some instances, highly beneficial over and above the wealth gathered from the ground. Instances are given above and recommendations are made for the removal of another reef which would benefit Galveston Bay. Aside from objections which are preposterous, such as the statements that dredging will change the salinity of the water and pollute the bay by stirring up the bacteria on the bottom, the anti-dredgers seem to object mostly to the stirring up of the sediment or mud. They fail to realize that this material is not filth, but contains nutrient salts which enhance plankton growth when thrown back into the water. Additionally, these people simply do not realize that the sedimentation movement caused by the shell dredge is minuscule when compared to the sediment movement caused by the weather, water currents and natural geological processes which are going on all the time. These people should be taught carefully and patiently and, for the time being for the general welfare of everyone involved, they should be ignoredBacteriaconservationDODredgingGalveston BaygrowthmudPlanktonQ1 01381 GeneralSalinitySedimentsedimentationspringSpringsUSAusewaterWater currentsWeatherJournal