Coast Guard warns on Oregon Inlet shoaling

Last Saturday morning, a small fleet of fishing boats from Wanchese, N.C., chugged through the navigation channel at Oregon Inlet and into the Atlantic Ocean. The water under the Bonner Bridge was 10 feet deep.

On Monday, the same boats couldn't get back through. Large sections of the channel were just over 2 feet deep.

A sudden shoaling that was likely triggered by a nor'easter two weeks ago has Oregon Inlet almost plugged up again. The Coast Guard on Thursday issued a warning to mariners to use "extreme caution" if they try to make it through the 110-foot wide channel that charter and commercial fishermen have long relied upon to reach the ocean.

"It was very abrupt - I've never seen it happen that suddenly before," said Ryan Tillett, manager of Moon Tillett Fishing Co. Tillett had to redirect his Wanchese-based fishing boats to Hampton to unload their catches.

The Army Corps of Engineers is scheduled to start dredging at Oregon Inlet again on Monday, said Roger Bullock, chief of navigation for the agency's Wilmington, N.C., district.

"We'll be working 12-hour shifts, but Mother Nature is working 24-hour shifts," he said. "We will definitely make a difference, and we will get the channel open. For how long depends on what Mother Nature decides to do."

The Oregon Inlet channel was 18 feet deep before the nor'easter, officials said.

Coast Guard Capt. Anthony Popiel said he's considering temporarily closing the route but will wait to see how the dredging goes.

"Ever since the nor'easter we've been losing a foot a day," he said. "The shoaling is right in the middle of the bridge span, and that's put the channel out of business."

Meanwhile, he said boaters seeking ocean access are encouraged to use Hatteras, Ocracoke and Beaufort inlets, and Hampton Roads - fairly lengthy detours.

Popiel said the shoaling is worse than it was in the spring when dredging crews scrambled to make the channel passable. The new influx of sand also wiped out the natural clearing of the channel done by Hurricane Irene in August.

Some charter boat captains said that despite the shoaling, they expect to find a safe way through the inlet this weekend.

"You can't use the main span, but you just go down a couple of spans and get through there," charter boat captain Benjie Stansky said. He said the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center is open and "everybody is going out and catching plenty of tuna."

Charter captain Hank Beasley was less optimistic. He said he wants to take customers fishing on Saturday but will see whether a proven route emerges.

"I don't want to be the first guinea pig and tear my boat to pieces," he said. "If you run aground under the bridge and the tide swings around, it would be total devastation. You'd be sunk."

Popiel said the Coast Guard doesn't recommend mariners using routes other than the official navigation channel.

Beasley said a jetty would prevent shoaling at the inlet, and Tillett agreed. "That's the only thing that's going to keep it" in place, he said.

The benefits and environmental impacts of such a project were debated for decades by federal agencies before it was killed in 2003. That's when the White House Council on Environmental Quality nixed what had become known as the most studied project in America.

Chris Mackey, a spokeswoman for North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue, said the governor will continue to work with federal officials on the problem.

"We have been assured by the corps that a dredge will return to the inlet as soon as possible," she said. "This problem is ongoing and we will continue to work with our congressional delegation to secure federal funds for Corps of Engineers responsibilities across North Carolina."

Aaron Applegate, (757) 222-5122, aaron.applegate@pilotonline.com