




































African Journal of Environmental Economics and Management Vol. 1 (1), pp. 022-027, August, 2013. 
Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals 

 

 

Full Length Research Paper 
 

Environmental port management: Conceptual model 
development and use of tools to evaluate and monitor 

dredging activities in the Port of Rio Grande, Brazil 
 

J. Ronaldo Torres* and L. Antônio Philomena 
 

Fundação Universidade do Rio Grande, Departamento de Ciências Morfo-Biológicas. Caixa-Postal 474, Rio 
Grande, CEP 96.201-900, RS - Brazil. 

 
Accepted 2 May, 2013 

 
This work concerns assessing and monitoring of dredging activities in the Port of Rio Grande, Brazil. 
The subject is presented to address the major problems related to the dredging process itself and 

sediment disposal options. From the dredging works carried out in 1998, 2000 and 2003 on the Port of 
Rio Grande, different data were gathered and used to develop a preliminary conceptual model of this 

process. The conceptual model elaborated and presented in this study consists of technical, ecological 
and socio-economic aspects of dredging. This model, which is an analysis of the major points to be 
considered when dealing with dredging projects at the Port of Rio Grande, highlights the importance of 

monitoring these activities from all aspects. The main points to be considered are: Selecting the type of 
dredge and the method of management and disposal of the sediments; monitoring the impacts within 

the environment (plants, animals, water and sediment quality), and the operational and monitoring 
costs of these activities. Another point that should be considered is about the disposal options or 

beneficial reuse of the dredged material. 
 

Key words: Brazil, dredging, environmental impacts, modeling, monitoring. 
 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
One important research field in developed and 
developing countries is the improvement of ports and 
channels by the use of dredging activities. These 
activities produce a certain level of impacts and a 
monitoring program should always be considered to 
evaluate their environmental consequences.  

Most of the ports worldwide have been established in 

rivers, estuaries and lagoons in highly populated industrial 

centers. The navigation channels in the entrance of these 

ports and estuaries suffer shoaling processes requiring 

frequent dredging to maintain their depth. However, the 

sediments present at the bottom of industrialized ports are 

usually contaminated with trace metals and organic 

compounds. Thus, the dredged material must be carefully 

handled and disposed at proper sites. Therefore, dredging 

activities demand correct planning and decision making on 

the process itself, as well as on the handling 
 
 
 
*Corresponding author. E-mail: rjtorres2000@yahoo.com.br. 

 
 
 

 
and disposal of the dredged material.  

In developing countries such as Brazil, there is a lack of 
information related to dredging works (Torres and Calliari, 
2004). In many cases, existing information are not 
presented to the community, being held by the port 
administration they belong to or research institutes that 
do not publish them. In a worse situation, very few of the 
ports and channels that require dredging have any kind of 
environmental monitoring and evaluation program. The 
first Brazilian legislation dealing with the dredging 
process was approved in March, 2004 and addressed the 
characterization of the sediment in order to decide the 
disposal options in coastal areas and monitoring the 
disposal site, with several physical, chemical and ecotoxi-
cological parameters (CONAMA, 2004).  

Environmental impacts associated to the dredging 
process and spoil disposal can be characterized by direct 
effects over organisms and habitats and indirect effects 
attributed to alterations in water quality (Kennish, 1994, 
1996). Physical disturbances associated to removal and 
re-location of sediments are considered direct effects and 



Torres and Antônio               022 
 
 

 
provoke the destruction of benthic habitats, increasing 
mortality of these organisms. Indirect effects are asso-
ciated with the resuspension of bottom sediments with 
remobilization of contaminants and nutrients affecting  
the water quality and the increase of turbidity and 
decrease on the conditions of light dispersion.  

According to Davis et al. (1990) and Bray et al. (1997), 
the impacts of dredging can be divided into several 
categories: 1. Dispersion and deposition of resuspended 
sediments; 2. Depth alterations; 3. Effects and changes in 
coastline configurations; 4. Loss of habitats on bottom 
sediments and water column, as well as fishing 
resources; 5. Noise; 6. Odor and 7. Changes in overall 
environmental quality (both in the dredging site and 
disposal site).  

Environmental monitoring, by definition, consists on 
making specific measurements and observations of some 
indicators and parameters with the purpose of verifying if 
the required environmental impacts are happening, their 
intensity and to help choose and evaluate which miti-
gating procedures can be taken (Araújo, 2006).  

In the case of dredging operations, the variables to be 
monitored according to IADC/CEDA (1998) and USEPA 
(1998) are related to depth control, suspended sediments 
generation, spill generation, density in the pipeline and/or 
disposal site, physical and chemical characteristics and 
biological parameters.  

Therefore, there is a need to develop monitoring 
techniques of these activities aiming to align projects in 
accordance with the existing policy, which can be 
complemented by international laws on dredging and 
disposal. The evaluation of the techniques used in 
projects around the world could help in implementing 
mechanisms that better represent the reality of the 
Brazilian ports (Fredette and French, 2004). The multi-
disciplinarity involved in dredging activities which include 
port, naval and ocean engineering, oceanographic pro-
cesses (comprising physical, chemical, geological and 
biological oceanography) and environmental, ecological, 
economical, social and legal aspects to which the 
dredging operations are closely related must be 
considered in designing a monitoring program.  

The objective of this work is to present an overview of 
the dredging activity in the Port of Rio Grande and 
develop a conceptual model giving emphasis on aspects 
that should be considered in the management of a 
dredging activity, from the environmental, technical and 
socio-economical point of view. Also, from this conceptual 
model, some tools for the environmental monitoring 
process of the activity can be commented. 
 
 
MATERIALS AND METHODS 
 
Study area 
 
The Port of Rio Grande is the southernmost port of Brazil (Figure 1) 
and is located at the west margin of the North Channel (considered 

 
 
 

 
the natural drainage of the Patos Lagoon Hydrographic Basin). Its 
geographic location and the extent of protected waters make it ideal 
for the flow of commerce from the Rio Grande State and the North 
of Argentina, presenting great importance to the economy of the 
region. It is the third most important Brazilian port, after the ports of 
Santos and Rio de Janeiro (Torres, 2000).  

The city of Rio Grande is locate in the margins of the estuarine 
region of the Patos Lagoon, in a peninsula limited to the south and 
northeast by shallow bays ("Saco da Mangueira, Saco do Martins 
and Saco do Justino"); to the north by the North Channel; and to the 
east by the Access Channel to the Patos Lagoon and the Atlantic 
Ocean ("Canal do Rio Grande"; Figure 1).  

The estuarine region is located between the latitudes of 31°30'S 
and 32°30'S and longitudes 51°55'W and 52°15'W and consists of 
the transition area that has some influence from salt water and the 
fresher lagoon waters. The Patos Lagoon estuary is classified as a 
coastal plain estuary or bar estuary according to Fairbridge (1980) 
(in Hartmann, 1996). Kjerfve (1994) also denotes this estuary as 
choked (strangled) because it is a narrow and long lagoon, 
composed of elliptic cells connected with each other and with a long 
and narrow channel linking to the ocean.  

With the increasing importance of the Port of Rio Grande, the 
improvements on the navigation conditions of the Patos Lagoon 
inlet took place with the construction of the "Molhes da Barra" (two 
2 mile long jetties at the entrance of the Lagoon). This construction, 
which started in 1898 and finished in 1915, is one of the biggest 
coastal engineering works in Brazil. These jetties fixed the bar, 
allowing a natural deepening of the channel from 2.5 to 6 m. Lately, 
with the dredging works to open the Rio Grande Canal, in 1972, 
ships with a greater draft were able to enter the estuary. The main 
periodic dredging every two to three years (Hartmann, 1996).  

Mainly suspended matter is a major contributor makes up of the 
sediments contribution to in the Patos Lagoon and estuarine area. 
Baisch (1994) estimated that the solid discharge from the Guaíba 
system and Camaquã River are about 5.3 million meter cube per 
year, of which about 82% is from the Guaíba and 18% from the 
Camaquã. According to this author, only 25% of this volume 
reaches the estuarine region, or a total of 1.2 million meter cube. 
Adding to the total is the amount of sediment exported from the 
Mirim Lagoon through the São Gonçalo Channel, this volume 
comes to about 2 million meter cube of suspended matter all 
contributing to the shoaling process in the navigation channels.  

According to the available data, maintenance dredging of the Rio 
Grande Port is about 1.4 million cubic meters per year, divided in 
three distinct areas: Rio Grande Canal, approximately 1,040,000 

m
3
/year; Access Channel to Porto Novo, 75,000 m

3
/year, and; 

Evolution Basin of Porto Novo, 285,000 m
3
/year (Portobrás, 1979). 

 
 
Model development 
 
The dredging operation in the Port of Rio Grande that took place 
from March to August 1998 was accompanied and previously 
evaluated biological, physical, chemical and geological charac-
teristics of the area such as biological and hydrological cycles, 
water and sediment quality and socio-economical aspects of the 
region present in Torres (2000) were gathered in order to develop a 
conceptual model based on energy fluxes according to Odum 
(1971, 1994) regarding environmental, technical and socio-
economic aspects as well as the information on the techniques that 
is normally used in dredging projects.  

This model comprises the sources of energy (represented by the 
objects outside the dashed rectangles), the pathways of the energy 
inside and across each different compartment and the final 
destination of this energy. To help evaluate and refine this model, 
the two subsequent dredging projects (in 2000/2001 and 2003/ 

   



023       Afr. J. Environ. Econ. Manage. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 1. Rio Grande region map showing the port areas, the navigation channels and the disposal site used until 1998 and the 
current site [modified from Hartmann (1996)]. 
 
 
 
2004) and their environmental monitoring programs were analyzed. 

 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
 
The total amount dredged from Rio Grande Port in the 
1998 dredging operation was approximately 2,940,000 

m
3
 in the three sections of the port that was dredged (Rio 

Grande Channel, Access Channel to Porto Novo and 
Evolution Basin of Porto Novo). The disposal site was 
located offshore, in front of the Mar Grosso beach in São 
José do Norte - Rio Grande's neighbor town - about 5 
nautical miles from the east jetty, at a depth of about 13 m. 

 
 
 
This disposal site was considered unsuitable because it 
could form sand bars in the beach area, affecting the 
incidence of waves in the foundation of the east jetty, and 
it could cause its rupture (Calliari and Tagliani, 1997). 
This problem was avoided during the 2000/2001 and later 
dredging operations on which another disposal site 
started to be used, located about 13 miles offshore with 
an approximate depth of 20 m (Figure 1) and out of the 
navigation routes as proposed by Torres (2000).  

It is known from prior projects that the sediments from 
depth of this channel is about 14 m and is maintained 
through Rio Grande channel are contaminated by trace 



Torres and Antônio               024 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Figure 2. Schematic (conceptual) model presenting the relationship between the various processes related to the dredging 
activities. 

 

 
metals and organic contaminants from the port area, from 
the effluents of the industries based in the Industrial 
District, especially from the fertilizer industries and from 
the adjacent sewage effluent from the city (Baisch, 1997). 
As dredging re-suspends this sediment allowing these 
contaminants to get back to the water column, it is 
advisable that these activities should be monitored 
before, during and after the operations are concluded.  

The schematic model shown in Figure 2 was developed 
by observation of the dredging operation that took place 
in 1998. As an ecological model, it was based on the 
energy circuit language designed by Odum (1971, 1994). 
It takes into account the following major aspects: 
Environmental/ ecological, technical and socio-economic 
aspects which are represented by dashed line rectangles. 
The linkages and relationships between the different 
compartments of the model can be used to generate 
information on the design of new dredging projects.  

This conceptual model can be used to identify which 
points of the dredging process can be optimized and the 
model gives a background for future studies on dredging 

 

 
operations of the Rio Grande port and estuarine area, as 
well as other ports in the Brazilian coast. As such, it 
represents a comprehensive system representation of 
cause and effects. The model is designed in order to 
organize information into a comprehensive representation 
of the system’s important structure (components) and 
function (processes) and cause-and-effect relationships. 
The model components and relationships may be used to 
assess and evaluate changes to the system and effects 
of management actions, alternatives, and scenarios on 
the system and system structure and function.  

Since most dredging projects are site specific, this 

conceptual model can be used to identify which points of the 

dredging process can be optimized and gives a background 

for future studies on the dredging operations of the Rio 

Grande port and estuarine area, perhaps it may be adapted 

and used as bases for other dredging projects in Brazil and 

other places around the world. The main points to be 

considered are: Selecting the type of dredge and the method 

of management and disposal of the sediments; how to make 

a monitoring plan of the impacts 



 
 
 

 
over the environment (plants, animals, water and sedi-
ment quality), and the operational costs and monitoring 
costs of these activities. One aspect that should be 
emphasized is the volume to be dredged at specific sites, 
which in many cases can be influenced by geological and 
climatic cycles of the region, raising or reducing the 
volume of sediments that reach the estuarine area.  

Another point that should be considered is the choice of 
disposal options or reuse of the dredged material. Some 
of the techniques used can be dangerous to the 
environment and human health while others can be 
beneficial such as the use of these sediments for beach 
nourishment, landfill or construction material. A pilot 
project has been conducted in order to reuse the 
sediments from the area of Porto Novo as material for 
blocks and cement to be used as construction material 
(Dias et al., 2004).  

According to Asmus and Zamboni (2001) and Asmus et 
al., (2002), the impacts of the 2000/2001 dredging works 
on benthic organisms, plankton, fish and fishing 
resources, vegetation, water and sediment quality, and 
the overflow activity (discharge of the exceeding water 
from the interior of the hopper dredge, and which 
contains fine grained sediments), were monitored in the 
dredging site and at the disposal site for the first time in 
the maintenance dredging that happened in the years 
2000/2001. From this monitoring activity, it was possible 
to determine that dredging should be done on the periods 
that the outflow regime from the Patos Lagoon can carry 
the re-suspended sediments to the ocean, preventing it to 
re-settle in the channel. Also, as sediments were 
contami-nated with trace metals and organic compounds, 
it required careful management and placement. The main 
toxic compounds were persistent organic pollutants 
(POPs), sulfur and nitrogen from the city sewage outlets 
and phosphorus (P), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), cadmium 
(Cd), zinc (Zn), chromium (Cr) and nickel (Ni) from the 
fertilizer industries on the industrial district adjacent to the 
port area. POPs were not quantified, but some of these 
metals such as Cu, Pb and Zn have shown violations of 
the sediment quality guideline called ERL (Effects Range 
Low), which might present toxic responses to living 
organisms (Long et al., 1995). Some of these compounds 
may bioaccumulate in seafood resources, representing 
some potential harm to human health.  

The environmental effects to plants and animals of the 
estuarine area of the lagoon and nearby coastal zone 
mainly result from the increase of turbidity, with normal 

concentration of about 50 mgl
-1

 of suspended sediments 

reaching up to 15,000 mgl
-1

 in the plume behind the 
hopper dredge, which represents a reduction in light 
incidence and reflects on the plant growth and fisheries 
life cycles. Also, sediment settlement in the channel and 
disposal site can affect benthic organisms, suffocating 
them.  

During the dredging work of 2003/2004, a monitoring 
program was also conducted (Asmus and Granato, 

 

  
 
 
 
2004).  

In this particular project, the overflow was controlled. 
This way, the suspended particles in the plume behind 
the dredge did not reach the same values as on the 

previous dredging, remaining below the 500 mgl
-1

 level, 
even though it is still above safe levels. Also, another 
action that was taken was related to conducting most of 
the work during the periods when the discharge from the 
lagoon to the ocean was larger, pushing the turbidity 
plume to the sea and preventing the settlement of the 
sediments back in the channel and estuarine region. This 
proved to be a good practice to improve the overall 
conditions of the estuarine and marine area. 
 
 
Tools for monitoring dredging activities 
 
In the last few decades, a great number of studies 
regard-ing environmental impacts of dredging have been 
con-ducted (Fredette and French, 2004). Some of them in 
Europe, Asia and North America discuss the importance 
of assessing sediment quality and how it is related to 
environmental toxicology (USEPA, 1998). Some of these 
tools for monitoring dredging activities (also known as 
lines of evidence or LOE) have been characterized as 
follows: 
 
Physical and chemical characterization: Grain size, 
total organic carbon (TOC), acid volatile sulfides and 
simultaneously extracted metals (AVS/SEM), metal 
speciation and persistent organic pollutants such as poly-
cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated 
biphenyls (PCBs) and some pesticides (Cesar, 2006; 
Lotufo, 2006); 
 
 
Biological characterization: Ecotoxicological assays 
with whole sediments, water from the interface water-
sediment, interstitial water and elutriates, use of 

Microtox
®

, histopathology and mutagenicity, evaluation of 
benthic community structure and bioaccumulation of 
chemicals by fish and invertebrates (Cesar, 2006; Sáfadi, 
2006; Umbuzeiro, 2006). 
 
 
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
 
From the information obtained, it was possible to draw 
the following conclusions and recommendations for future 
dredging projects and other scientific works regarding 
dredging and environmental management: 
 
1. The knowledge of natural and anthropogenic shoaling 
processes of estuarine areas and navigation channels is the 
first step to understand what happens in the port area.   
2. Good assessment of the magnitude of contaminants 
present in the sediments from the bottom of the channels 
is necessary in order to prepare safe actions for the  

025       Afr. J. Environ. Econ. Manage. 

 

 



Torres and Antônio               026 
 
 

 
dredging activity and spoil disposal, especially for the fact 
that dredging can re-mobilize these contaminants.  
3. In the Port of Rio Grande, the dredging works should 
be conducted during periods of water discharge from the 
lagoon so the re-suspended sediment would be carried 
out of the estuary. In other ports, the hydrodynamic 
system of the estuary should be evaluated in order to 
understand what happens with fine sediments and what 
would be the best option to reduce recontamination of the 
estuary.   
4. Monitoring the quality of water and sediments as well 
as the influence of the dredging operations on the 
biological, chemical and physical processes on the 
estuarine and marine areas should be conducted before, 
during and after the dredging work takes place.   
5. Dredging activity management should comprise the 
aspects presented in the conceptual model proposed 
here and includes the choice of dredging equipment and 
the best disposal techniques, evaluation of the volume to 
be dredged, assessment of water and sediment quality, 
as well as the biological cycles in the port area   
6. A model enhancement and testing with data to be 
collected in new dredging projects may generate hypo-
theses about uncertain relationships or interactions 
between components which may be tested and revisions 
made to the model through an adaptive process;   
7. According to recent studies (César, 2006; Lotufo, 
2006), some tools for monitoring dredging activities are 
necessary. These tools are related to physical and 
chemical characterization as well as biological and 
ecotoxicological evaluations. These aspects are foreseen 
on the recent Brazilian legislation CONAMA 344/04 that 
concerns about the assessment and monitoring of 
dredging activities in Brazilian jurisdictional waters, which 
is under evaluation. The conceptual model conceived in 
this work is important for communication and decision-
making that incorporates different disciplines and a range 
of affected stakeholder and agency groups involved in the 
dredging activity in Brazil.  
 
 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 
 
Authors would like to thank CNPq – Brazilian National 
Council for the Development of Science and Technology 
for an M. Sc. scholarship given to the first author. 

 
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