Up to £500,000 is to be spent to dredge Maryport’s harbour. 

A contract has been awarded by Maryport Marina and Harbour Authority to Dutch firm Van Oord. 

It will begin dredging on February 4.

John McAvoy, fishing co-operative chairman, said in recent times even boats leaving at high water had had trouble negotiating the silted harbour. 

He said: "The harbour used to be dredged every five years but it is more than that since Elizabeth Dock was dredged. The situation was really becoming critical.

"Boats were having real difficulty. This will make life better for them and may even attract other boats into the harbour."

Pauline Gorley, chief executive of the authority, said Van Oord would be on site from February 4 for four to six weeks to dredge the Elizabeth and Senhouse docks. 

Van Oord is a specialist in water injection dredging and it will be the first time it has been used in Maryport.

An injection beam located underneath the vessel injects large volumes of water under low pressure into silt and it is removed as it turns denser. 

Mrs Gorley said the dredging programme would benefit harbour users and especially the fishing industry’s larger boats as they will be able to access the landing quay during neap tides as well as spring tides.

Senhouse Dock was dredged six years ago but the authority announced at that time that it had no money to dredge Elizabeth Dock.

It has not been dredged since 2006.

Mrs Gorley said the money for the scheme came from the interest and dividends of an endowment the authority holds for infrastructure maintenance and dredging.