Chincoteague fishermen to receive early Christmas present

Posted December 16, 2011
By Patrick Bloodgood, Norfolk District Public Affairs

12/16/2011 - NORFOLK, Va. — Fishermen operating out of Chincoteague, Va., are going to find it easier to navigate in and out of the harbor thanks to a two day visit by the Corps dredge Currituck on Dec. 18 and 19.

The dredge is on its way to Oregon Inlet N.C. from Philadelphia, Pa., and will remove dangerous shoals from the channel.

"We were receiving reports from the fishing community in Chincoteague that they could only get in and out during high tide," said Kristen Mazur, the Norfolk District project manager overseeing Chincoteague federal navigation channel project. "The fishermen were reporting that the conditions of the channel were becoming worse and they were even having some trouble getting through at high tide."

Armed with that information, Mazur called on the crew of the Currituck, who were wrapping up with some work for Philadelphia District, to see if they could spare a couple of days to dredge some of the more critical areas of the inlet.

"They are scheduled to dredge a larger portion of the channel in January, but we wanted to see if they could hit some areas that were of particular concern for the watermen," Mazur said.

The Chincoteague inlet federal navigation project is an operations and maintenance project, which supports the largest commercial port on the Eastern Shore handling more than 3,000 vessels a year. The project provides the primary access from the Atlantic Ocean to a critical harbor of refuge at Chincoteague and other Federal Navigation projects in area. U.S. Coast Guard Station and U.S. Coast Guard Group Eastern Shore are also located on the project.