North Carolina’s commercial-fishing industry should be raising a ruckus, and North Carolinians should support that ruckus as a show of support for the industry.

Last week, North Carolina officials said the Old North State lost more than $4 million worth of business because Oregon Inlet on the Outer Banks was not deep enough for large fishing boats to safely make their way through the inlet and to places in North Carolina where they could unload their catches, according to a story carried by The Associated Press.

Why was Oregon Inlet not deep enough for those large fishing vessels? The inlet was filling in with sand faster than the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could dredge the channel, according to North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, which provided the economic-impact data to The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Between March 7 and April 15, more than 1.2 million pounds of flounder and nearly 33,000 pounds of black sea bass had to be sold and processed in Virginia because the choked Oregon Inlet kept large commercial fishing boats from making it to buyers and processors in North Carolina. The summer season on those species of fish ended April 15.

Bodie Island, drifting southward, is encroaching on the navigational channel at Oregon Inlet.

We’re sure the Corps of Engineers has a reason, or several reasons, why it cannot dredge Oregon Inlet at a rate to keep it open to the large commercial fishermen vessels. At least one of those reasons is budget-related č not enough money to dredge that channel on a regular basis.

The Corps of Engineers has $4 million of the $15 million it needs to properly dredge the channel, AP reports. It wants to dredge the channel to a depth of 14 feet, but it is struggling to maintain the channel’s depth at 10 feet.

Well, when North Carolina’s commercial fishing industry loses more than $4 million to a neighboring state, any reason for not keeping that channel dredged is hard to swallow.

The Corps of Engineers had announced it was bringing in a new dredging vessel to work around the clock in an effort to keep Oregon Inlet clear. But there are media reports that the dredge Currituck won’t arrive until mid-June.

Let’s hope it arrives sooner. North Carolina’s commercial fishing industry can’t stand to lose another $4 million in the coming weeks.

North Carolina’s commercial fishing industry needs less sand in Oregon Inlet and more fishing boats clogging the channel.