By: Mayor Joe Stapleton

Keeping Newport Harbor Navigable and Thriving

I'm excited to share an update about one of our city’s most treasured assets: Newport Harbor. This summer will kick off a key phase in a significant dredging project to help maintain the safety, beauty, and vitality of our harbor.

Newport Harbor isn’t just a picturesque place for boating and sunsets — it’s the largest recreational harbor on the West Coast and a cornerstone of our community's history, economy, and lifestyle.

Dredging is essential maintenance for all harbors. Over time, sediment naturally washes into the harbor from sources like San Diego Creek, slowly making the water shallower and navigation more difficult. If we don’t keep up with dredging, our harbor becomes less accessible and less safe for commercial, recreational and emergency response vessels. There are also environmental benefits to dredging, as it creates greater tidal flushing that benefits sea life and water quality.

Thanks to a partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, we’re embarking on the next phase of a multi-year, multi-million-dollar project to restore our federal channels to proper depth.

About 745,000 cubic yards of clean sediment will be transported to an authorized ocean disposal site. The remaining material, which isn’t suitable for open-ocean disposal, will be reused to fill a shipping terminal being renovated at the Port of Long Beach’s Pier G— an environmentally beneficial and cost-effective solution.

This project is a testament to collaboration, planning and our shared commitment to keeping Newport Harbor thriving. It supports local businesses, preserves our boating and fishing culture, and protects critical infrastructure.

I’ll keep you updated as the work progresses this summer and fall. Here’s to a safe and vibrant harbor, today and for decades to come.

Follow on IG @newportstapleton | jstapleton@newportbeachca.gov

Mayor Joe Stapleton is serving his first term as Mayor of Newport Beach.