vocal opponents, science 

 alone suggests that the 

 prudent action is to shelve 

 the plan. Coastal geologists 

 have consistently questioned 

 whether the Corps could 

 prevent erosion on Pea 

 Island and Cape Hatteras 

 National Seashore — 

 although the latest sand- 

 bypassing plan is currently 

 under scrutiny — and ask 

 why the jetties are necessary 

 to begin with. Commercial 

 and recreational vessels 

 already ply Oregon Inlet 

 regularly. Scientists such as 

 Stanley Riggs at East 

 Carolina University, Duke 

 University's Orrin Pilkey 

 and a constellation of others 

 argue that the Corps' plan 

 does not give enough 

 consideration to factors such 

 as barrier island migration or 

 the possibility of increased sea level rise 

 in response to potential global wanning. 



Not long after meeting Jarrett on the 

 Pea Island groin, I attend a lecture by 

 Riggs in the public aquarium on Roanoke 

 Island. According to Riggs, the inlet 

 history of the Outer Banks has much to 

 say about the future of these islands. An 

 inlet at or near the present site of Oregon 

 Inlet appeared as "Port Ferdinando" on a 

 1585 map of the region and was called 

 "Gun" or "Gunt" inlet by later cartogra- 

 phers. It closed sometime before 1798 

 and remained plugged with sand until the 

 1846 hurricane and Midgett's hard day in 

 the dunes. Just look at what has happened 

 with inlets along the northern Outer 

 Banks, Riggs says, and it's easy to tell 

 that the only thing constant about this 

 coastline is change. From 1585 to 1600 

 along the stretch of beach from Cape 

 Henry to Cape Hatteras, six inlets were 

 open at one time or another. From 1600 

 to 1800, five. In the 19th century, there 

 were three. From 1900 to 1945, two. And 

 from 1945 to the present, only Oregon 

 Inlet. "With rising sea level," Riggs says, 



Wanchese patriarch Copt. Will Etheridge Jr. 

 says the fishing industry is looking for a helping hand, not a handout. 



"we have moving sands, and those sands 

 are closing inlets." Coastal geologists 

 insist that Oregon Inlet is in no imminent 

 danger of closing, with or without 

 stabilization. But attempts to lock it into 

 place will come at a great cost to distant 

 generations and to the current one. 



Six hundred million dollars (give or 

 take) will dent future federal and state 

 budgets, but plenty of Outer Bankers 

 will say that Oregon Inlet's current 

 status exacts a price from them every 

 day. The commercial fishing industry 

 in Dare County is struggling, and its 

 viability largely depends upon a reliable 

 Oregon Inlet. Capt. Will Etheridge has 

 become a spokesperson for Outer Banks 

 watermen — he is president of the 

 Oregon Inlet Users Association, a group 

 that has long lobbied for construction 

 of the jetties — and he meets me on a 

 shopworn fishers' dock on the 

 Wanchese waterfront. 



The Wanchese fishing industry 

 stands to benefit greatly from a jettied 

 Oregon Inlet. In the late 1970s, banking 

 on the eventual construction of the rock 



breakwaters, more than $10 million in 

 state and federal funds was poured into 

 the construction of a Wanchese seafood 

 processing facility that could handle the 

 larger commercial trawlers a stabilized 

 inlet would attract. But without the 

 jetties, the Wanchese Seafood Industrial 

 Park has few fish to process. 



We motor around the docks in 

 Etheridge' s workboat, watching a man 

 in orange coveralls hose down the decks 

 of the trawler Capt. Ralph. Longline 

 mackerel and tuna boats line up at the 

 dock, and power tools whine from a 

 bustling little boatyard where gleaming 

 white sportfishing boats are corralled, 

 but Etheridge insists the seafood park is 

 on the skids. "We had a ship lift here 

 that went broke .... Used to have plenty 

 of boats," he says. "No more." In recent 

 years, trawlers operating out of 

 Wanchese might lose 10 or 15 working 

 days each season due to conditions in 

 Oregon Inlet, he says. "That restricts 

 your working time," he adds morosely. 

 "Cuts your production." 



With jetties, the Corps plans to 



12 HIGH SEASON 1998 



