I UNC Sea Grant November, 1979 



*>9, W N.C. 



• 6 /*> ^ ,oRTH CAROLINA STATE UBAARt Doc . 



^ RALEIGH 



^ WA* 1 1980 



coast Swatch 



Photo by Steve Murray 



The serenity of Oregon Inlet at sunset belies its changing and sometimes treacherous waters 



Which course should inlets take: nature's or man's? 



Editor's Note: Providing ade- 

 quate transportation for coastal 

 North Carolina is no simple mat- 

 ter. The area is laced with 

 numerous rivers and vast sounds, 

 which both aid and hinder trans- 

 portation. In the first of a two- 

 part series, the October issue of 

 Coastwatch examined coastal 

 bridges and ferries. In this issue, 

 Coastwatch takes a look at the 

 waterways themselves and how 

 they are used by both commercial 

 and recreational traffic. 



Ever since he took up commercial 

 fishing twenty years ago, Kenny 

 Daniels has had a running battle with 

 Oregon Inlet. 



Sometimes the inlet wins. Ten years 



ago, for instance, Daniels left his 

 hometown of Wanchese and moved to 

 Virginia when it became impossible to 

 safely navigate the shallow inlet with 

 his trawler. 



But family roots run deep in 

 Wanchese and Daniels eventually 

 returned to run the family-owned 

 Wanchese Fish Company. First he sold 

 his old boat. Now the company's ten 

 fishing vessels are built with a shallow 

 draft to allow them to navigate Oregon 

 Inlet. But Daniels contends that this 

 design makes them less seaworthy. 



Like a lot of fishermen in the Dare 

 County area, Daniels worries about the 

 safety of his crew. He believes the time 

 has come to stabilize Oregon Inlet. 



Not everyone agrees. The question 

 of what to do about many of North 



Carolina's inlets is developing into a 

 hot issue. Some favor maintaining suf- 

 ficient channel depth through dredg- 

 ing, while others contend that perma- 

 nent stabilization with jetties is the 

 only solution. Still others lobby for a 

 policy of leaving inlets undisturbed so 

 that they can follow their natural 

 courses. 



North Carolina's 26 inlets flow be- 

 tween the state's outer chain of barrier 

 islands — parcels of land that are con- 

 stantly moving as the ocean washes the 

 sand away from one place and deposits 

 it somewhere else. 



These natural changes often make 

 navigation of the inlets difficult for 

 boat captains and fishermen, who com- 



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