Gas prices, smoke, driving bans - Hatteras feels the pinch

By Connie Sage

Correspondent

HATTERAS

Soaring gas prices and beach closings are creating economic havoc for some business owners on Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Smoke from a five-week-old wildfire isn't helping things.

Some retailers say they've seen a drop in revenue of 30 percent or more. Ferry traffic between Hatteras and Ocracoke was down 14 percent in June compared with last year. And the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau has launched an unusual mid-summer campaign to attract vacationers.

"Gas prices are one component in the downfall of the economy," said Carolyn McCormick, managing director of the visitors bureau. "The beach closures, the misperception that more beaches are closed than open and the unfortunate wildfire - you throw all those things into the basket and it's a difficult and challenging summer, to say the least."

The visitors bureau began Internet advertising last week to draw tourists from within a 400-mile drive to the Outer Banks, shifting $105,000 of its $2 million advertising budget to July to pay for it, McCormick said.

"With the collision of all these negatives, it's put us in a position where we need to sustain the summer," she said.

Whether beach closings or a spike in gas prices is more to blame - a gallon of regular was $4.39 at the southern tip of Hatteras Island last week - is nearly impossible to gauge.

John Couch, who owns Lighthouse Auto Parts and Lighthouse Service Center in Buxton, said business is down by 31 percent compared with last year. He's convinced that while fuel prices play a role, beach closings because of nesting birds are the primary cause of his economic woes.

With no access to Cape Point, travelers aren't stopping at nearby businesses, Couch said.

"The economy is driven by surf fishermen here," he said. "This is all about access. It's about organizations that somehow get in the way of the American public's right to access federal land."

A lawsuit filed by the Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society against the National Park Service was settled at the end of April when a federal judge signed a consent decree that controls beach driving in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Several fishing spots became almost immediately off-limits because of mandated pre-nesting bird areas and buffers that were enforced by the National Park Service.

Closed sections continually change, making it difficult for the public to know where they're allowed on the beach.

Bob Eakes, owner of the Red Drum Tackle Shop and Ocean Notions gift store, both in Buxton, also has seen sales fall off by a third this season.

"It's devastating me," said Eakes, who blames what he claims is the park service's "spin that it's gas prices and not closures," and the press, which he said is "hyping how bad it is."

Business is off by more than 40 percent at Dillon's Corner fishing tackle in Buxton, according to owner Ollie Jarvis. There also are fewer customers at his Avon gift shop, Fisherman's Daughter, he said.

"I'd say ours is more impacted by not allowing people to drive on the beach."

Tourists still travel here, said Darlene Hooper, manager of the Avon Motel, because gas prices are high anywhere they go. But when they learn that the best fishing spots are off-limits, "they leave early," she said.

As of Thursday, about 22 miles out of about 67 miles of beach on Hatteras and Ocracoke islands were open to off-road vehicles.

Not all of the closings are to protect birds. Some closings are seasonal and some are for safety reasons.

Pre-nesting closings began in late March and will continue until at least the end of August or later until birds are fledged and fly off, said Cyndy Holda of the National Park Service.

The real test will be whether anglers come here this fall and whether tourists return next year.

"I have people saying they won't be back next year if it's like this," said Frisco Rod & Gun owner Bryan Perry, who said business is down only slightly.

"People who come here love to gather at the Point," he said. "I'm not talking hell-raisers; these are older people with respect for the environment. Those people are gone."

Round-trip ferry traffic between Hatteras and Ocracoke islands dipped by 14 percent, or by 7,614 vehicles in June, with 46,209 vehicles transported compared with 53,823 a year ago.

Ferry officials cite gas prices as the key reason.

Not as many back-up ferries are running, according to Capt. R.V. O'Neal Sr., because there haven't been as many long lines requiring additional ones.

"If it keeps going like it is, next year will be bad," O'Neal said.

Mark Kernahan and his buddy Dale Bates of Louisville, Ky., came to Hatteras Island over the Fourth of July because of its beaches.

"The economy is making us all work harder and that means we have to take a vacation," said Kernahan.

But Bates said he was unaware that so many sections of the beach were inaccessible. "Four-wheeling is 50 percent of why I come here," he said. "Gas didn't even enter my mind."

Tommy Hutchenson, manager of The Ocracoke Variety Store, said there haven't been as many people on the island this year.

"I don't know if it's the gas or the beach closures," he said. "I personally think it's more the media; you cut the TV on and they're scaring people away from travel."

Gas prices and a faltering economy are affecting everybody, said Roger Garrish, owner of the Sand Dollar Motel & Cottage on Ocracoke Island.

Not everyone is suffering.

Jack Whitehead of Ocracoke Island Realty said it's been a good year.

"People need their vacations and they want to take them, especially when times are tough. It's not record-breaking, but it's good."

Rentals have not declined this year because reservations are generally made a year in advance and travelers don't want to forfeit their deposits.

Next January, half the deposit for summer 2009 beach house rentals will be due - an average of $2,000, said Anthony Fletcher, general manager for Midgett Realty in Hatteras.

If cancellations are up, "we'll know the impact" from beach closings, he said.

Business also is up at Teach's Lair marina in Hatteras village, according to owner Roy Kingery.

"What sustains me are my trailered-boat customers, as well as my transient folks who bring boats in for a couple of weeks."

June was a good month for Allen Burrus, owner of Burrus Red & White Supermarket in Hatteras. "People dependent on beach fishing have problems. Talk to any tackle shop and motels; they've had the worst of it."

Offshore charter-boat business is down because of high fuel prices. But inshore charters are doing better because they don't go to the Gulf Stream, said Jerry Teel, who runs charters in the sound, inlet and off the beaches on his boat Got-Em. "We don't burn the gas; we can do it much more affordably," he said. "I'm swamped and don't have an opening for three weeks."

Smoke from a wildfire near Phelps Lake in eastern North Carolina that has burned more than 60 square miles has draped the beaches like a fog on some days.

"I had a lady ask me if it was even safe to come to the Outer Banks because of the fires," said the Park Service's Holda. "I said, 'It's very safe to come to the Outer Banks.' "

The visitors bureau's McCormick said businesses and the media "have to accentuate the positive."

"We've alarmed people to the point they think beaches are closed not just on Cape Hatteras, but Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills," she said.