U.S. Army Corps proposes study for Ocean City inlet

Local watermen in Ocean City are excited to hear about a new plan that might help make fishing at the town's inlet a lot easier. 

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Army Corps of Engineers and Worcester County commissioners met last week to address the waterway's shoaling issue. 

It's been more than 80 years since the Great Hurricane of 1933 sliced the Ocean City shores and created the waterway. However, the waterway has gotten more shallow over the years, making it more difficult for waterman to get through. 

Now the U-S Army Corps has created a 1.2 million dollar project to help address the issue. 

According to officials, the approval of the study would allow the federal government to fund half of the cost, leaving 600,000 dollars for the state and the county to pay.

"We're working a navigation study for the inlet because right, put simply, we are not able to get enough funding to dredge the inlet as often as is needed to address the recurring shoaling in of the navigation channel," said Chris Gardner, Corporate Communication for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

The inlet has become a crucial economic engine for commercial and recreational fishing. 

"The way it looks is that pretty soon it's going to get so bad that probably even the smaller boats that don't draw a lot of water are going to be having problems getting in and out of there," said Sonny Gwin, a local waterman. 

"We’re just getting kind of worried that we don’t know if we have three years. The shoaling looks like it’s getting worse and worse every year," said Gwin.