A group from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District took a tour of the Padre Island, a “suction hopper dredger” working in the Galveston Channel, Aug. 2, 2023. Hopper dredges are self-propelled, self-loading ships designed to excavate and load seabed material into a self-contained hopper, through trailing drag arms and pumps for transport to a disposal site. The Padre Island can collect 3,600 cubic yards of dredge material per “cut” or dredging pass.