The State of NC subsidizes a commercial fishing port in Wanchese, NC. Commercial fishermen need to pass through Oregon Inlet to get to Wanchese, but it is dangerous so they'll usually go to the port in Hampton Roads, VA. Here is an example of the danger (Trawler runs aground ...):
The ship was an 87-foot trawler called the Lady Helen, the spoil some 100,000 pounds of croaker. And the plunderers - they were gulls and brown pelicans, dozens of them feeding on the losses of three commercial fishermen.
The boat hailed from Carteret County but was headed for Wanchese on Wednesday night after two profitable days at sea.
It was almost there, too, but struck bottom in Oregon Inlet, a waterway known for its quick currents and ever-shifting shoals. With holes ripped along its port side, the boat began taking on water.
So much water, said Petty Officer Adam Witt with the Oregon Inlet Coast Guard Station, that they couldn't help the boat.
The Lady Helen's call for help came at about 9:30 p.m., he said, and the three men on board - none of them injured - were taken back to shore.
The trawler sat lopsided in about 8 feet of water just west of the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge at noon Thursday, starboard side down.
After patching the holes, men rigged pumps among mounds of croaker, hoping to get the water out and the Lady Helen back up.
They did, about 5:30 p.m., Witt said.
David Gaskill, a crewman aboard the trawler, watched from a smaller boat Thursday afternoon as the wind slapped up small waves. A Coast Guard crew oversaw the work from another boat.
"It happened real quick," he said. "We hit ground. Fifteen minutes, we were on the bottom. That was it. We were done."
He said the croaker were worth at least $20,000.
...
Few trawlers transit Oregon Inlet, the only passage between sound and ocean from Virginia to Hatteras Inlet. Most opt for Hampton Roads harbors, where waters are deeper.
About $7 million is spent on Oregon Inlet's upkeep each year, but those whose livelihoods depend on it often say it isn't enough.
Here is a summary of the economic impacts of Oregon Inlet from a study I've worked on:
The economic benefit of Oregon Inlet to Dare County and the surrounding region is very significant and far outweighs the costs necessary to keep the inlet passable through dredging. In fact, the economic benefit to the Federal Government alone is more than 6 times the recent annual expenditures for dredging. ... The four study sectors combined provide a total annual economic benefit of 9,838 jobs and $682.7 million to Dare County and the surrounding region.
I worked on a recreational fishing demand model for this study. With this model I simulated a complete closure of Oregon Inlet that caused charter and private boaters to switch to shore fishing or travel south to Hatteras Inlet to reach the ocean. The simulation finds:
... a consumer surplus benefit of $8 -$12 million dollars ....
So, the recreational fishing benefits exceed the current costs of dredging. Surely, some of those enormous, $683 million, economic impacts from above are truly benefits (in the benefit-cost anlysis sense of the word) and might justify additional dredging.
John,
If the inlet provides $683 million in economic benefit to Dare County, why doesn't Dare County simply maintain it? At the very least, the County should be able to pony up the difference between what the feds provide and what is needed to maintain safe navigation.
Also, who paid for the Moffatt & Nichol economic study of Oregon Inlet?
Posted by: Andy Coburn | February 26, 2007 at 05:22 PM
Andy,
I have no problem with the question that you raise re: who should pay.
Dare County paid for the M&N study.
Posted by: John Whitehead | February 26, 2007 at 05:32 PM