OCEAN CITY – Worcester County and the Town of Ocean City simultaneously approved this week sending a letter of intent asking for assistance to improve channel depth in order to keep commercial fishing and recreational activity thriving in the Ocean City area.
On April 21, a meeting, arranged by Delegate Mary Beth Carozza (District 38C), was held at the request of local commercial watermen to discuss the increased shoaling of the Ocean City Inlet and Harbor and other areas in the local bay waters.
Over 40 representatives from federal, state and local agencies as well as commercial and recreational fishermen and members of the business and environmental community, attended the meeting. All agreed that the shoaling problem is increasing and is negatively affecting local commerce and recreation.
Carozza has been working with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Worcester County and the Town of Ocean City to draft a Letter of Intent to be presented to the Army Corps of Engineers requesting the Corps’ assistance with dredging action of the inlet and harbor to a deeper standard of 14-16 feet.
The current depth of 10 feet is no longer adequate since the area fills within a short amount of time. The effort has been supported by other federal and state officials, including the Coast Guard, United States Senators Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin, United States Congressman Andy Harris and State Senator Jim Mathias.
Before the Ocean City Mayor and Council on Monday evening was a request to have Mayor Rick Meehan sign a letter of intent asking for assistance from the Army Corps of Engineers to improve the federal channel at the Inlet and West Ocean City harbor.
According to City Engineer Terry McGean, over the years and continuing to the present, sand has been coming through the Ocean City Inlet and depositing itself in the Inlet, harbor and surrounding bay waters. The degree of shoaling has increased dramatically in recent years to the degree that it is severely impacting economic and safety issues for both commercial and recreational boaters.
In 1998, the Ocean City, Maryland and Vicinity Water Resources Study was completed by the Army Corps of Engineers. It correctly predicted many of the sediment problems taking place now but it appears that they are developing more rapidly than expected. The Study recommended that the Inlet and harbor depth be increased to 14 and 16 feet, respectively.
“That was dropped due to a lack of federal funding in 2005. Since [Superstorm] Sandy it has been getting much worse despite the twice a year effort that the Corps does, even that is not keeping up with the shoal and it is basically where the harbor and Sunset Marina channels empty out into the Inlet. Just a little bit east of there is where this tends to happen,” McGean said.
The resulting negative economic impact to the city, county and state is millions of dollars of lost revenue, McGean stated. Many commercial vessels have left the area and others are threatening to leave because of constant problems returning to their dock to unload their catches and vessel damage in the attempt.
In 2011, Joe Letts managed a fleet of five commercial clam boats in Ocean City. He had 42 employees. It took 2.7 million gallons of locally purchased fuel to run his boats. Groceries alone cost him $60,000 that year.
Lett was forced to move north to New Jersey because the ever-decreasing depth of the Ocean City Inlet made it harder and harder for him to get his 100-foot boats in without damage.
According to Letts, with a depth of 12 feet and sand constantly coming in, even the smallest boats are now having trouble navigating the channel. At 100 feet, the boats Letts managed were constantly scraping bottom. Trips to the shipyard for repairs, typically done every three years, became annual events, costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars and weeks out of the water.
McGean concluded on Monday the letter of intent serves as a request to use the findings of the 1998 study and any update as necessary to verify that the conditions remain the same or are most likely worse since 1998 and to request that the Corps of Engineers move forward with the recommended project.
By signing the letter, it does not commit any funding at this time. However, if the project is ultimately authorized by the Corps of Engineers, the city could assume responsibility for some portion of the 10 percent local share of project costs. When the project was originally approved in 1998, the city had agreed to fund $35,000 toward the project.
McGean recommended after the Corps completes the project update and cost estimates, and the Mayor and City Council wish to remain a partner in the project that it be under the same cost sharing arrangement with the state and county that Ocean City uses for Beach Replenishment, which is 50 percent state, and 25 percent each city and county.
Councilman Dennis Dare was concerned over city funding going toward dredging in an area that is the county’s responsibility.
“When this was originally discussed back in the late 90s, the same point was brought up at that time. The council felt because the county had been such a good partner with us in beach replenishment that they would partner with us on this. That can be a decision to be made when the numbers come in on design and how much everything will cost. It may be we can do a lot of this with just in-kind services,” McGean said.
Councilman Wayne Hartman pointed out an increase in dredging depth would benefit vessels heading north into Ocean City limits.
“If we get anymore visiting tall ships, they would be impeded by this,” he said.
The council voted unanimously to have Mayor Rick Meehan sign the letter of intent asking for assistance from the Army Corps of Engineers to improve the federal channel at the Inlet and West Ocean City harbor.
On Tuesday, the Worcester County Commissioners also agreed to sign and send the letter of intent. Bob Mitchell, the county’s head of environmental programs, said signing the letter would enable improvements to begin and would get the channel to a depth more manageable for boaters.
Commissioner Bud Church, long an advocate of dredging local waterways, said he was pleased to see some progress.
“I’m thrilled with the way things are going,” he said. “Finally things are beginning to happen. People are paying attention.”
Carozza is grateful to Maryland’s DNR, the Worcester County Commissioners and the Ocean City Council for recognizing the urgent need to address this issue and agreeing to join together as non-federal sponsors to request the Army Corps explore the required actions and present a plan to them for possible approval.
The letter to the Corps states in part, “We respectfully request that you review and confirm the dramatic increase of shoaling in the Ocean City harbor and inlet area as soon as possible in order that immediate dredging relief can be provided to keep these commercial waterways open and safe, and to prevent further loss to the local commercial and recreational boating industry.”
Carozza added, “When the storm of 1933 created the Inlet, it forever changed the profile and economy of Ocean City, making it a premier boating and recreational destination. It is up to us and future generations to take whatever action is needed to preserve that legacy.”