Photo by J . Foster Scott 



Photo by Gene Furr 



CONTRACTORS H HARMS c SON 



engineers si sirrine co century southern 

 sw; of north warn- oux cconty project 



ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AtWINlST RATION 

 COASTAl PLAINS RE6I0HAI COMMISSION 



The Wanchese Harbor of old (above) is a sharp 

 contrast to the plans (left) state and local officials 

 have for harbor development and construction of a 

 seafood industrial park. 



The eventual success of the state's seafood in- 

 dustrial park is partially dependent upon stabiliza- 

 tion. Only if the inlet is stabilized will the park be 

 able to attract enough large trawlers for full opera- 

 tion. In fact, says Lawrence Saunders of the Corps of 

 Engineers, the park will reach only 25 to 35 percent 

 of its potential if the jetties are not built. 



That may mean a lot of the taxpayers' money 

 down the drain. Authorized in 1970, the Wanchese 

 Seafood Industrial Park is being jointly funded by 

 local, state and federal government. When com- 

 pleted in early 1981 , it will carry a price tag of about 

 $7.2 million. The park is designed to boost the sea- 

 food industry by encouraging more seafood process- 

 ing in the state. When complete, it will have a 15- 

 acre, deep-water harbor adjoining 36 acres to be 

 leased to private industries for the construction of 

 processing facilities and auxiliary businesses. 



geologist Stan Riggs says that may not 

 be enough. "The beaches need sedi- 

 ment and sand during high energy 

 storms like northeasters that occur 

 during the winter, but the corps is 

 proposing to bypass the sand only dur- 

 ing the summer," he says. "This may 

 not necessarily be when the beach 

 needs it." 



Saunders says the bypass system can 

 be flexible and the Corps of Engineers 

 will constantly monitor the beaches to 

 determine when bypassing is needed. 

 The system is designed to bypass up to 

 a million cubic yards of sediment a 

 year if necessary, he says. 



But Riggs is not convinced that the 

 Corps of Engineers understands the 

 "processes of such a highly dynamic 

 system at Oregon Inlet well enough" to 

 adequately predict the consequences of 

 stabilization. 



"The Oregon Inlet bridge is a perfect 

 example," Riggs says. "The state is 

 having problems there now because 

 they didn't understand the dynamics 

 of the inlet when the bridge was built." 



Riggs says that building jetties at 

 Oregon Inlet will only increase the 

 possibility of a new inlet blowing 

 through another narrow, low-lying 

 area along the barrier islands. 



"An inlet is like a self-adjusting 

 valve that allows water in and out of 

 the sound as the pressure builds and 

 lessens. When you put in jetties you 

 tend to lock the inlet in and doing this 

 only increases the pressure somewhere 

 else," he says. 



Saunders says Riggs' predictions are 

 unfounded. The amount of water ex- 

 changed between the ocean and the 

 sound will remain the same after 

 stabilization occurs in the inlet. And, 



he adds, salinity levels, vital to fish and 

 shellfish survival, should go un- 

 changed. 



However, officials of the Park Ser- 

 vice and the Fish and Wildlife Service 

 remain doubtful. "We feel we have 

 some legitimate concerns," says David 

 Rackley of the Fish and Wildlife Ser- 

 vice. "We would like nothing better 

 than to tell the Corps of Engineers to 

 go ahead and make the inlet safe, but 

 we can't do that at the expense of the 

 fisheries and our refuge." 



Rackley says that, ultimately, the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service can appeal to 

 the federal Council on Environmental 

 Quality "to can the project" if it is not 

 satisfied with the corps' plans. 



This will be a last resort, Rackley 

 says. The Corps of Engineers and the 

 two federal agencies are looking for 

 answers that will satisfy everyone. 



