Frank Harrington has shared his ideas with the city's new councillors, MP Roma Britnell and the council's infrastructure director David Leahy which he says would solve the problem of having to dredge the silting Lady Bay for commercial fishing boats.

His idea would mean building a new bluestone sea wall on the shallow reef in front of the La Bella Reef, and adding a commercial fishing dock and promenade on top to create an enclosed harbour.

That would allow for a protected boat ramp to be built inside an enclosed harbour, he said.

Mr Harrington said the existing breakwater could also be widened with another promenade and mooring docks on the other side.

"All those boats going through to Portland, they'd all be in here," he said.

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The council has been investigating the options of an enclosed harbour in Lady Bay, but there is no firm plans.

The city has also been struggling with the build-up of sand in the bay and the council is currently seeking a 10-year deal with the government for a dredging program.

"The elements of that bay that's against them is unreal," Mr Harrington said.

He said the build-up of sand in the bay over the past 75 years or more was a big problem and made the idea of an enclosed harbour to the south of the breakwater more ideal because there was unlikely to be a build-up of sand there.

He said the proposal for a rock wall along the sea side of the breakwater was well known but there had been talk of even putting 85,000 tonne of bluestone onto the seabed behind the wall to create an imitation reef to lessen the impact of large swells on the wall.

"If they're going to drop the stone in, they may as well drop it on the shallow part and create a second wall like the one at Portland," Mr Harrington said.

He said even if authorities didn't like his idea of an enclosed harbour south of the breakwater, he implored authorities not to ruin what would be an ideal location for a marina in decades to come.

Mr Harrington stressed that his proposal was not an alternative to the work that the council was currently doing on the wall, bay and boat ramp but was a totally separate idea.

The pilot and mechanic said his harbour idea needed to be investigated but he wanted to share it with the community to get the discussion started.

Mr Leahy said Mr Harrington's proposal was beyond the capability of the council to deliver.

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