OCEAN CITY, Md. -- On Wednesday morning, a 75-foot commercial vessel ran aground on its approach to the commercial dock in West Ocean City. The captain and crew say if the channel was dredged properly, this would not have happened.
They also voiced their frustrations with the Army Corp of Engineers, and there is agreement locally that a more permanent solution is needed.
"Maryland keeps wanting to put a band-aid on this, how many band-aids are you going to put on it before you fix the problem?" questioned Mike Coppa.
Coppa is the owner of the Fishing Vessel Instigator, the boat stuck in the channel.
The recent incident is why fisherman we spoke with said dredging is no longer the answer, and why county officials are frustrated the corp denied their request for a constructed solution.
Robert Mitchell, the Director of Department of Environmental Programs for Worcester County, spoke before commissioners about this issue at a commissioners meeting on Tuesday, March 21st.
"I presented to our county commissioners a draft letter to the Army Corp of Engineers Baltimore Division to invite them down to explain their decision," said Mitchell.
Mitchell said the corp decided more dredging would be the best solution.
"We were hoping we'd have a constructed solution to the shoaling problem in the inlet, and we do not have that at this point," said Mitchell.
The county wanted the corp to perform over-dredging, which would remove a lot of the material from the bottom of the West Ocean City channel and move it to close off nearby jetty's.
With sand continuing to fill up the channel, the hope was by closing off the jetty's, it would prevent the issue that occurred on Wednesday from happening.
"They would replace those," said Mitchell, pointing to the jetty's opposite of the Ocean City Inlet parking lot. "Move the material that they take from this area over to the Northern part of the island behind the jetty, that material removed would create a safe passage here."
Matthew Carter, Captain of Vessel Fishing Instigator, said they travel through the channel at least once a week, and during the winter, rarely made it through cleanly.
"This entire Winter I haven't made it through this inlet more than two or three times without rubbing bottom," said Carter.
After the boat ran aground, Coppa and his crew went into a mad scramble to save as much of the catch as possible. But, they seemed more concerned with any possible damage.
"God knows what kind of damage I have under there right now," said Coppa. "I'll have to get a diver down there, we'll inspect it, and nothings bad I hope, and if it is, that's a whole different subject."
If the vessel does sustain substantial damage, forcing it out of commission for even a few weeks, Carter said it could have serious repercussions.
"I mean everybody on here is trip for trip, week for week, you tie this boat up for six to eight weeks, we run the potential of losing everything."
The Army Corp of Engineers was actually out at the Ocean City Inlet a couple of weeks ago for their annual dredging project, but after his boat got stuck, Coppa would like to see them come back out.
"I want to see the Army Corp of Engineers to get back here immediately, immediately, and do what they were supposed to have done previously," said Coppa. "At least open it up and then I'd like to see the state of Maryland stop thinking this is a band-aid and fix the problem right."
Mitchell said because the corp does projects based on available funds, he is unsure when they will make it back out to Ocean City to fix the issue.
