A dredging operation in the Morro Bay State Park marina is about two-thirds complete.

Associated Pacific Constructors of Morro Bay started work on Aug. 13 and are scheduled to finish work around Nov. 15, said Eric Endersby, Morro Bay harbor director.

“We are removing about 33,000 cubic yards of material,” he said.

A full-size pickup bed can hold about one cubic yard, and a standard dump truck has a capacity of 10 to 12 cubic yards.

This is the first time the marina has been dredged since it was built in 1949, Endersby said. “There may have been some undocumented spot-dredging in the distant past, but nothing official that I’ve ever found anywhere,” he said.

Overall cost of the project is $1.4 million with the dredging contract making up nearly $1.16 million and the remainder engineering, environmental and management consultant fees.

The dredge material is removed by an excavator floating on a barge. The material is loaded onto a dump scow.

The scow is towed to a designated near-shore disposal site in 20 to 40 feet of water about three-quarters of a mile south of the harbor entrance. This is the same place the Army Corps of Engineers uses to dispose of its annual dredging materials, Endersby said.