THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 1, 1996 TAG: 9605010395
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
The East Coast's most dangerous inlet is getting even more treacherous, fishermen said Tuesday.
If Oregon Inlet continues filling with sand, commercial and recreational charter boats may soon be left without a safe route beneath the Bonner Bridge.
Federal officials are trying to find funds to resume a dredging project for the channel - the only outlet to the Atlantic Ocean in 140 miles between Cape Henry, Va., and Hatteras Village, N.C.
In the meantime, state officials are hiring a full-time consultant to work on maintaining the inlet - and attempting to convince Congress to construct solid structures that would stabilize its constantly moving sands.
On May 13, Bob Peele is expected to start working for the North Carolina Department of Commerce as a researcher, consultant and adviser on Oregon Inlet issues.
State Commerce Department spokeswoman Angie Harris said Tuesday that the hiring ``is being negotiated. It's not a done deal yet,'' so no salary has been set. Peele, who has served as deputy director of the North Carolina Fisheries Association since January 1995, received a draft copy of the nine-month state contract this week.
His hiring will mark the first time North Carolina officials have devoted a full-time, contracted person to the Oregon Inlet project in at least five years.
That new position will mean North Carolina leaders have decided to elevate the inlet from a Dare County concern to a state-level priority.
``This is a re-commitment that the state now thinks we're at a time when this project could be pushed and extra effort could be beneficial,'' said Robert Williams, Dare County Oregon Inlet and Waterways Commission Chairman. ``We have a lot of messages that need to be carried to the federal level - and a lot of ideas that need to be followed up. But, until this new person comes aboard, we don't have anyone to chase all the rabbits.''
The chief federal official Peele will be working with on Oregon Inlet issues is Martin Lancaster, the new assistant secretary of the Army for civil works. Lancaster, a Goldsboro Democrat, formerly served as a North Carolina congressman. Before joining the Fisheries Association, Peele worked as Lancaster's aide for two years.
Lancaster is trying to secure $6 million that President Clinton included in his 1997 budget proposal to keep the Oregon Inlet channel open. The Army Corps of Engineers would use the money to maintain a channel 200 feet wide and 14 feet deep between Nags Head and Hatteras Island - as mandated by law. Now, the waterway is about 11 feet deep, fisherman Moon Tillett said Tuesday.
``The Corps is supposed to dredge Walter Slough soon. We were told it would take a couple more days to get the permits,'' said Tillett, owner of Moon Tillett's Fish Co. in Wanchese and a representative on the Oregon Inlet Waterways Commission.
``That sand is coming down the beach from the north. When it crosses the channel, it gets under the navigation span and blocks the boats right out,'' Tillett said. ``They're still using the inlet during high water now. But it's just deteriorating bit by bit. Somebody lobbying for that inlet full-time will help, just keeping on top of it all.''
Hundreds of commercial and recreational fishing boats depend on Oregon Inlet to get them from the Outer Banks to the Atlantic. In recent years, the channel has shoaled so much that deep-draw vessels have not been able to get through. Since 1960, at least 25 lives and an equal number of boats have been lost there.
For more than two decades, fishermen have been trying to convince Congress to build two long rock walls along the sides of Oregon Inlet to keep sand from building up in the channel. The jetties would cost almost $100 million, experts say. Watermen think the long-term savings would be worth the expense.
But environmentalists say such structures could cause greater erosion along southern stretches of beach. To prevent the Army from building jetties, officials with the U.S. Interior Department have refused to let engineers anchor the breakwaters on each side of theinlet - on land the Interior Department owns.
So the government keeps dredging the inlet in a losing battle against tides and time.
Now, Williams and other waterway proponents are hoping to get an interim rock wall - called a groin - built on the north side of the inlet to slow shoaling as jetty battles continue. The Corps of Engineers built a groin on the channel's south side several years ago. An additional one would buy a few years for the fishermen, they said.
``There are two keys that need to be turned to unlock that jetty project: access to the land and funding for construction,'' Williams said. ``We need a lot of state and federal help. We can't do it all with volunteers alone.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
DREW C. WILSON
The Virginian-Pilot
As the Oregon Inlet fills with sand, it grows increasingly
dangerous. In this 1995 photo, a Coast Guard ship aids a trawler.
by CNB