OCEAN CITY -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will dredge Ocean City’s inlet ahead of big summer boating events, such as the 52nd White Marlin Open in August.
Officials with the Army Corps of Engineers said the dredge is expected to arrive July 15th, and that work is expected to begin the following day. Roughly ten thousand cubic yards of material will reportedly be removed from the Ocean City Harbor, the inlet, and the intersection of the Ocean City Inlet and the Isle of Wight Bay Channels.
Captain Kerry Harrington, who owns three commercial fishing vessels, said the shallow channels are difficult to navigate for larger boats like his.
"A lot of the big boats have been running aground and it's been tearing up the boats," Harrington said.
Harrington said sand build-up along the area's channels have hurt the local commercial fishing industry, and that he's hopeful for a permanent solution down the line.
"We lost a whole clan fleet that fished out of here for years," Harrington said. "After running aground so many times, they were bending frames, and tearing boats up, so now they're out of New Jersey. So we lost a lot of revenue that came into this harbor, you know, millions and millions of dollars."
Sunset Marina General Manager Brian Tinkler said they have had boaters turn away from their marina due to the shallow waters.
"It creates clearance issues, especially when you have multiple boats trying to travel at the same time and pass you in the channel," Tinkler said. "Clearly we have some large boats that fish out of Ocean City now, and you have the commercial fleet as well, which are exceptionally large boats."
Tinkler also said he is hopeful for a permanent fix.
"We really only seem to address this problem every time during the White Marlin Open, which of course is needed," Tinkler said. "But this a problem all year long. This is putting a band-aid on something that needs a complete overhaul."
According to officials, that dredging work is expected to take up to ten days to complete.