New Breach Opens Up on South Beach in Chatham

CHATHAM – After multiple overwashes from winter storms on the southern section of South Beach in Chatham, a breach finally occurred last week.

The latest storm which brought rain and strong winds to the Cape on Friday and Saturday has created a new inlet going from Chatham Harbor into the Outermost Harbor.

“It looks relatively stable, although it’s still early and only been a couple of days,” said Robert Duncanson, the town’s director of natural resources. “But right now every indication is that it is going to sustain itself and we are probably going to have a new breach on our hands.”

The breach occurred about a half mile south of Chatham Lighthouse.

Chatham Coastal Resources Manager Ted Keon said the breach was not really a surprise as the conditions worsened over the winter months.

“We’ve been watching it get very narrow and it had been overwashing during storms,” Keon said. “It was sort of a forgone [conclusion] that it was going to happen. We just weren’t sure when.”

Keon and Duncanson both said the breach is in a development stage right now and that it is too soon to know the impacts of how it will affect the current entrance to Pleasant Bay used by fishermen.

“We will just monitor it and ideally confirm where the best water is and maybe move buoys and flags as we can,” Keon said. “But right now we are really going to let nature take its course and watch how they develop and deal with it accordingly.”

Duncanson said that when these incidents occur there is a period of transition and adjustment.

“Whether or not it is going to sustain itself or fill back in in some fashion as we get to the summer season where wind patterns and current patterns change and beaches change – we just don’t know yet,” Duncanson said. “Exactly how much of an impact it’s going to have on the old breach – that remains to be seen.”

Boats have already been using the new breach at both high tide and low tide.

Keon anticipates fishing boats will continue to go over the bar and use caution.

“The bar has been not very good for a while even as far back as last summer and it doesn’t seem to have gotten any better over the winter,” Keon said. “We don’t know exactly how this will change that condition but we are all kind of on the same page that it’s probably not going to help it.”

The hope is that the inlet which broke through in 2007 further north and hasn’t been very good for larger boats will develop more as the current being used possibly closes up.

Duncanson said the harbormaster’s office was going to go out Monday to check out the breach and calculate depths.

Keon said there isn’t a whole lot that can be done except to continue to keep an eye on it.

“It really isn’t something that has the opportunity for dredging per say. There are no permits or authorizations to do work – plus it would be very short lived,” Keon said.

Duncanson echoed that officials will just have to wait and see.

“Generally what you want is you want one inlet where most of the water goes through because then the tide and the current keeps things flushed out and maintains the channel,” he said. “Now that we basically have three inlets in and out of Pleasant Bay that puts a whole different dynamic in it.”

Duncanson said that tends to result in lower currents which makes it more difficult to keep an open channel.

By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter