More Inlet Dredging Called Critical By County, Fishermen

BERLIN – In 2011, Joe Letts managed a fleet of five commercial clam boats in Ocean City. He had 42 employees. It took 2.7 million gallons of locally purchased fuel to run his boats. Groceries alone cost him $60,000 that year.

Today, all that money is being spent in New Jersey. The ever-decreasing depth of the Ocean City Inlet made it harder and harder for him to get his 100-foot boats in without damage. The Ocean City native, whose father and grandfather fished here, was forced to move north.

“We pulled our multi-million dollar operation out of Ocean City and now I’m stuck in this [expletive deleted]-hole called New Jersey,” he said.

Three years after the move, Letts is still bitter. On trips home he has noticed the number of boats in the harbor continue to dwindle.

More