Barnstable County has operated a maintenance-dredging program on behalf of Cape Cod towns since 1996. The county dredge, called the Codfish, clears municipal harbors and waterways at one-fourth the cost of similar dredge services offered by commercial operations. The dredge and its four-man crew have cleared harbors and channels in nearly 50different areas on the Cape and Islands during its short history. In 1999, the dredge saved Cape towns $1.5 million with 12 dredging projects.

The County Dredge Program also conducts "before" and "after" dredge surveys, which serve as invaluable records when a major hurricane requires the region to submit documentation of storm damage to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.