Shore Boulevard East. The south side is occupied by the PortsToronto aka Toronto Port Authority works yard and the Keating Channel Pub. At the west end Cherry Street crosses the channel over a single sided drawbridge rarely used by ships. At the east end is the start of the Don Valley Parkway. In the 1940s the watershed further up the Don River became more urbanized. This caused an increasing amount of silt to flow down the river. The silt collects in the channel where there is very little water flow. Since that time, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) has been dredging the channel. The dredgeate material is barged out to the Leslie Street Spit where it is dumped in a containment area built for this purpose. In 2005, the annual amount of silt dredged was about 35,000 cubic metres. The containment area has the capacity to take 50 years of Don River dredgeate . In 1980 Ontario's Minister of the Environment was asked, during question period, about an exemption from environmental regulations, granted to those who dredged the channel. Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Bryden was quoting Donald Chant's recommendation concerning the Keating Channel, and why the recommendation had been ignored, when she was interrupted by the Minister. Chant was then the chairman of the Premier's steering committee on environmental assessment. According to the MPP, Chant's recommendations had questioned whether dredging the channel was worthwhile: Industry Canada's Federal cabinet published a tender for a railway swing bridge over the channel in 1896. Construction began in 1900. Early in its history the banks of the channel were lined with industrial enterprises, including a small shipyard, the Toronto Shipyard Company, which built vessels for the war effort. The channel has always been dredged, to continue to allow navigation. In the 21st century, with its role as a cargo route over, the channel is only dredged to a depth of . Toronto Life quoted Toronto harbour master Angus Armstrong's explanation that the current dredging efforts are aimed at "whatever is needed for the health of the river." Current issues The channel's impact on the Don River is varied. Both sides of the channel are lined with concrete dock wall which creates a barrier and provides little habitat for fish and other water dwelling creatures. The Don is home to about 21 species of fish. Only about four or five species can