Members of the Dare County Waterways Commission have reason to celebrate this holiday season, with reports from fishermen and charter boat captains that the recent dredging of the South Ferry Channel is holding up nicely. “They say the flow going east-west through there — it’s a much better flow than what we had going across […]
Fishing | Full Article
Considering the growing prevalence of drone photography and video footage over miles of natural landscape, a bird’s-eye view has been proven to be more than eye candy in determining climate impacts. But for wildlife managers at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, a major stopover for migrating waterfowl and shorebirds, the compact low-flying machines are also […]
Island Features | Full Article
Archaeologists this week unearthed further evidence of late 16th century English activity near reconstructed earthworks at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, although the discoveries — mostly fragments and shadows in dirt layers — are incremental details that will inform the First Colony Foundation’s meticulous effort to reconstruct a significant science laboratory discovered decades ago. “It’s an […]
Island Features | Full Article
Chronic shoaling in Hatteras Inlet’s South Ferry Channel persists despite numerous dredging projects over the last five years, but now the Dare County Waterways Commission is facing a tough decision on how to proceed in the face of stubbornly intractable issues. Before the dredge Merritt’s scheduled return on Oct. 1, the panel has to decide […]
Fishing | Full Article
Thirty years ago, the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum was officially designated a nonprofit educational organization. That was three years after the maritime museum on the end of Hatteras Island was authorized by Congress, and three years before Congress provided construction funds. But somehow, 13 years after the facility was transferred to the state, money […]
Local News | Full Article
Co-published with Coastalreview.org As a charter vessel approaches the South Ferry Channel, what appears to be the shadowy head of a cobra rising from an undulating body waits on the west side of the channel entrance, as if ready to strike. Countless other visual imaginings are no doubt possible from the stunning birds-eye view of Hatteras […]
Local News | Full Article
As sea levels continue to rise, the most imperiled spot on North Carolina’s vulnerable Outer Banks is likely on Ocracoke Island, where an erosion hot spot threatening its sole highway is past due for a long-term transportation solution, including potentially bypassing the north end of the island. “I’d say on N.C. 12, this is probably […]
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After numerous complications with dredging the South Ferry Channel, the Army Corps of Engineers reported to the Dare County Waterways Commission at its Monday meeting that the hopper dredge Murden has finally started work removing the problem shoal. “They’re working daylight operations only,” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chief of Floating Plant Joen Petersen told […]
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If the ferries can’t run to and from this southernmost Outer Banks island, the community is isolated, and its tourism economy crashes. It’s a threat that has become all too real. Related: Alternate Ferry Schedule Extended to April 12 Since about mid-March, persistent shoaling in the Bigfoot Slough channel off Silver Lake Harbor has resulted […]
Local News | Full Article
Dredging in the now-impassable South Ferry Channel in Hatteras Inlet has been making far less progress than expected, leaving members of the Dare County Waterways Commission at Monday’s virtual meeting reacting in stunned silence after a project update. “I wish I had good news to tell you that we busted through the shoal,” U.S. Army […]
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