THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 7, 1995 TAG: 9503070269
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DeGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WANCHESE LENGTH: Long : 129 lines
Restrictions on commercial fishing and natural shoaling in Oregon Inlet are limiting use of the Outer Banks' primary waterway, local officials said Monday.
If use of the inlet drops too much - and if not enough boats navigate the inlet to justify continued maintenance of the channel - the economic value of building the proposed $97.5 million jetties will drop considerably.
That ``Catch 22'' could cause federal officials to deep-six the entire jetties project, officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Monday.
``There is talk among the federal administration of abandoning some of the low-use inlets to the states - eliminating federal funds for their maintenance entirely,'' U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Jim Butler told members of the Dare County Oregon Inlet Waterways Commission during a meeting at the North Carolina Industrial Seafood Park.
``The Wilmington District has always believed that jetties are the solution to the Oregon Inlet problem,'' Butler said. ``But in my opinion, you're not gonna get them.''
Corps of Engineers Acting Operations Project Manager Steve Aiken agreed. ``Until there's action in Congress, until there's some resolution on that land, nothing's gonna happen on those jetties,'' Aiken said. ``We've had this project in our basket now since 1970. We're all a little numb to it by now.''
Oregon Inlet is the only outlet to the sea in the 140 miles between Cape Henry, in Virginia Beach, and Hatteras Inlet, N.C. It lies between Nags Head and the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. Shoaling in recent years has prompted some watermen to label it the most dangerous inlet on the East Coast.
Since 1960, at least 25 lives and an equal number of boats have been lost at Oregon Inlet.
In 1970, Congress authorized construction of two rock jetties, each 1.5 miles long, around the constantly shifting inlet. Engineers say the solid structures would slow sand movement and keep the channel open. But environmentalists worry that the jetties may not work - and could cause erosion of Pea and Hatteras Island beaches.
A Sierra Club spokesman has said that his group opposes the jetties because the rock structures would eat away at southern Outer Banks beaches and ``might not work - at all.''
In the 25 years since Congress first approved the Oregon Inlet jetties, state and federal agencies have outlawed several types of commercial fishing gear and placed size and quota restrictions on dozens of popular saltwater species.
Storms have caused the area's busiest ocean access channel to change from 20 feet deep to less than 11 feet in several spots. Big boats which used to land hundreds of pounds of fish at Wanchese docks have been forced to move to Virginia ports.
``If our inlet can only be used part of the time, it becomes a low-use inlet,'' local waterways commission member Arvin Midgett said at the Monday meeting. ``Had it been open - and deeper - it'd be used more.''
Commercial fishing interests and lobbying can't compete with those put forth by the sports fishing sector and environmentalist movements, Midgett contended. Politicians receive much more pressure from recreational anglers who want commercial catches limited than from coastal watermen who need the inlet.
``If Jesse Helms owned a trawl boat,'' Midgett said, referring to North Carolina's senior senator, ``those jetties would've been built by now.''
Monday's meeting was scheduled to update Oregon Inlet officials about plans to dredge the channel. Most of the two-hour conference, however, focused on problems with pushing the jetties project. Although Army Corps of Engineers officials seemed fairly pessimistic about the proposal, they promised to continue gathering information which jetties proponents said they need to convince Congress to approve the solid structures.
And they're all awaiting the fate of a jetties bill which Congressman Walter B. Jones Jr., R-N.C., introduced last month. If approved, the Oregon Inlet Protection Act would transfer land on which the jetties are to be built from the U.S. Interior Department to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The U.S. Interior Department, which owns the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge on the south side of Oregon Inlet, has been reluctant to approve the jetties until the environmental impact of the project is better understood.
The congressional subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment is debating that bill.
``We are working right now on coordinating our jetties design with state officials and other consultants,'' Corps official Wilbert V. Paynes said Monday. ``The sand management plan - which determines how the jetties will affect erosion - seems to be the most critical aspect of the project right now. We hope to submit our study to the regional office by May. We're also working with national and state fisheries officials to study the effects their management plans will have on the jetties' economic justification. That report, too, should be ready by May.''
While federal officials are studying ramifications of the project, Congress is looking at land swap deals and environmental groups continue to predict fall-outs from the jetties, watermen say they need a short-term solution, at least.
Federal officials are required to maintain Oregon Inlet at a 14-foot depth. Since Jan. 11, it has only been 11 feet deep in most places. Some watermen have not been able to navigate the channel for more than two months.
But until 350,000 cubic yards of sand accumulate in the inlet, Corps of Engineers officials say they can't contract with a dredge to clear it.
``You've got about 160,000 yards of material in there right now,'' Butler said. ``We're anticipating being able to bring a contract dredge in by August.''
In the meantime, waterways commission member Moon Tillett said, local watermen may be all washed up.
``We've only been able to use that inlet in high water and during daylight hours since January,'' said Tillett, a Wanchese commercial fisherman. ``We need that channel dredged out now. Fishing for us begins to drop off by mid-April.''
Oregon Inlet was not dredged at all during 1994. This year, Congress appropriated $2 million for keeping the channel clear. In past years, the Corps has spent more than $6 million dredging the inlet - and managed to keep a 14-foot channel open about 35 percent of the time.
Since 1970, federal and state officials have spent more than $8 million studying whether to build the jetties.
An economic impact report released last week projected that if the jetties are built, the Corps would have to spend about $7.3 million annually to maintain the inlet. For the additional money, consultant Larry Saunders said, a 20-foot deep channel could be kept clear about 90 percent of the time.
``We have to depend on you folks just like most people depend on the Department of Transportation,'' local Oregon Inlet Waterways Commission Chairman Robert Williams told the Corps of Engineers. ``You control access to the waterways - which are our roads. This is our busy season and the time our local watermen finally have the opportunity to make some money. But we don't have a road to get them to work. Even if they make it to the ocean, they don't have a safe passage to bring their products back to market.
``If we seem a little frustrated,'' Williams said, ``it's because we are.''
KEYWORDS: JETTY OREGON INLET by CNB