A Dream Gomes True
aft Wanchese Harbor
Af long last
ич‘‘го
to got that “ma¬
jor east coast seaport’* on Roanoke
Island.
By FRANK M. ROBERTS
In 1820 state officials felt that Wan¬
chese, on Roanoke Island, had the po¬
tential to become a major east coast
seaport. That dream \yill become reality
about 1980 — 160 years later.
In 1820 the project might have cost
several thousand dollars. The cost now
runs to many million.
That's how much it will take to
transform 17 acres of dirt paths and
parking areas, a short, weather-beaten
boardwalk badly in need of repair, and
shanty buildings into "the most com¬
pletely integrated seafood facility in the
United States, which will probably be
used by about 90 percent of Eastern
North Carolina's commercial fishing
vessels."
Thus, one state official describes the
Wanchese of the future. Alvah Ward,
a Dare County native who is seafood
industries consultant for the Commerce
and Industry Division of the State De¬
partment of Natural and Economic Re¬
sources (NER). said "we can’t use any
other area in the country as an example
for what we will be doing here. This
will be the first center of its kind in
the United States."
Because of its present water and fa¬
cilities, both of which can only be de¬
scribed as shallow, Wanchese is now
only able to provide minimal services
to small fishing boats.
Million-Dollar Benefits
A few years from now there will be
processing plants, cold storage facili¬
ties. seafood restaurants, marinas, trail¬
er parks, packaging houses, slate office
buildings, ice plants, barge and marine
supply facilities, and a recreation area.
It will represent a capital investment
of about S30 million over and above
the cost of the project, said James E.
Harrington, secretary of NER.
Some of that money will be spent to
deepen and widen the waters leading
into the harbor so that larger commer¬
cial and sports fishing boats can use
the planned, improved facilities.
Most of those facilities will be op¬
erated by private enterprise that will
come into the area. They arc expected
to employ about 640 people. The
project will produce "about a million
dollars in benefits locally (annually),"
said First District Representative Wal¬
ler B. Jones, D-N. C.
Similar words of hope, often sound¬
ing like a Chamber of Commerce hand¬
out promising brighter days eventually,
have been making the rounds since
1820.
To Deepen Oregon Inlet
But work is finally underway and
"within three years the ports facility at
Wanchese Harbor will be near comple¬
tion," Ward said. It is a $2.8 million
project being undertaken by the Stale
Ports Authority.
When it is completed it will then
justify spending about $16 million on
the Oregon Inlet Project (sometimes
referred to as the Mantco-Shallowbag
Bay Project), deepening and widening
the area waters.
That project is another victim of in¬
flation. When it was authorized by
Congress in 1970 it was an $1 1.2 mil¬
lion project. Now it is a $16 million
project.
Last year $60.000, representing the
initial appropriation, was earmarked
for advanced engineering and design.
And $300,000 was appropriated
“for the initial dredging work at Wan¬
chese Harbor," said Rondal Tillett.
Alvoh Word ond hit father before him puthed
hard for the harbor.
Wonchete's shollow horbor and limited facilities now attract relatively tmoll fishing boats; but the
new horbor will probably be uted by 90 per cent of Eastern North Caroline's commercial fishing
vessels ond will attract substantial traffic from other states.
12
THE STATE. NOVEMBER 1974
