OCEAN CITY — While the constant shoaling of the Ocean City Inlet persists, steps are being taken to alleviate the issue including a federal dredging project scheduled for three days next month.
The Inlet continually fills in through natural and man-made processes and is often impassable, particularly during low tide. While the Inlet and other channels in and around the mouth of the commercial harbor need continual maintenance dredging, the problem has become more acute in recent years to the point it is now curtailing commercial and recreational activity out of Ocean City.
To that end, State Senator Jim Mathias (D-38) has been working with state and federal partners on a long-term solution to the Inlet shoaling problem. The federal Army Corps of Engineers conducts routine maintenance dredging at the Inlet as needed a couple of times each year, but a longer-term plan is needed to mitigate the chronic problem.
Mathias this summer formed a working partnership to begin addressing the issue including state and federal representatives and stakeholders in the safe passage through the Inlet including commercial and recreational fishermen, marina operators and charter boat captains. Thus far, two meetings have been held resulting in some tangible results.
For example, the Army Corps of Engineers has allocated roughly $600,000 for a short-term maintenance dredging project at the Inlet scheduled for three days in October. U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, who has attended the various meetings on the issue in the resort area, this week called the Army Corps’ scheduled dredging project a necessary first step toward a longer-term solution.
“This is a start,” he said. “As we continue moving forward to accomplish long-term solutions protecting the Ocean City Inlet, it’s yet another example of what we can accomplish by working together.”
The Army Corps’ dredging project is just one part of a multi-faceted effort to address the chronic Inlet shoaling problem. In addition, Mathias also requested Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Assistant Secretary Bill Anderson to organize the local and state partners to explore further action. Anderson convened a third meeting and, with the support of Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration, committed the DNR to conduct a thorough survey of the Ocean City Inlet.
That survey, as expected, revealed both deep water and shallow-shoaled hazardous areas in the Inlet. The survey reinforced the commercial and recreational fishing industry’s claims about the narrow channel through the Inlet and served as an impetus to request the Coast Guard to realign the buoy markers in the Inlet to best alert boaters on the safest route.
In addition, the Worcester County Commissioners are proposing a request for proposal (RFP) to best determine the economic impact of the Ocean City Inlet. Among other aspects, the county’s RFP will estimate the revenue lost as a result of the Inlet shoaling’s effect on commercial and recreational fishing, marina operations, tourism and other related industries. That economic data should be significant in the effort to convince the Army Corps to ultimately deepen and widen the Inlet channel.
Both Cardin and Mathias this week said they remain committed to seeking long-term solutions.
“These meetings show that government is responsive and really does work for the stakeholders,” Mathias said. “The meetings should give maritime industry leaders confidence in their elected officials.”
