New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium staff were featured in a segment on the City University of New York TV’s Science & U.
Dr. Jon Miller. coastal processes specialist, and Dr. Amy Williams, coastal ecosystems extension agent, spoke to Lisa Beth Kovetz of Science & U while gathered at New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium’s Annual State of the Shore Media Event. Read more about the show here.
Join New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and Jenkinson’s Aquarium for a special Junior Keepers Underwater Exploration program on August 12 at the Aquarium located on the boardwalk in Point Pleasant Beach. Campers will learn why we explore our oceans and how aquariums play a role in conservation. Find out what happens behind the scene at the aquarium, and work in teams to design, build and deploy a remotely-operated underwater vehicle in one of the tanks. The four-hour program is recommended for ages 11 to 15 and costs $80 per child. Space is limited so do not hesitate to sign up. To register call Jenkinson’s Aquarium at 732-899-1659.
June 27 marked the launch of the High Water Mark initiative in Monmouth County at Belford Ferry Terminal. As many as 100 signs will be placed in the county in an effort to increase the local community’s awareness of flood risk.
Dr. Michael Schwebel, community resilience and climate adaptation specialist for New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Institute, has worked with local communities on resilience initiatives and was able to bring towns and the county together to generate interest in posting signs in prominent places of importance to the community.
The signs will be placed throughout the county to denote the highest level that flooding reached during Superstorm Sandy. These signs are part of a national collaboration with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), and its High Water Mark Initiative. One of these signs will be placed at New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and will be used as an educational tool.
In celebration of the National Sea Grant College Program‘s 50th anniversary, we are celebrating water resources all through the month of July. This month, New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium shared the positive impacts of being a better boater with a featured story on the National Sea Grant website.Read more on how Sea Grant programs across the country are positively impacting water resources in weekly featured articles here. Highlights of work across the Sea Grant Network on water resources are available on the 50th Stories page and a fact sheet.
Now we want to hear from you. We all have a connection to water. What is your most memorable or favorite story about your local waterway? Share your waterway moment on social media with the hashtag #SeaGrantWater. See what others are adding to the conversation here.
Lights, camera, action! Dr. Peter Rowe, associate director for Sea Grant Administration and director of research and extension, and Mindy Voss, education specialist, were featured in an episode of Aqua Kids TV. During the day of filming at Sandy Hook, Rowe and Voss took the Aqua Kids seining to explore the biodiversity of Sandy Hook Bay.
Aqua Kids is an award-winning K-12 program that airs nationally. Reaching more than 90 million households, the program aims to educate children about ecology, wildlife and science. The show has won two Emmy awards.
If it is summertime, you can be pretty sure that most New Jersey residents have plans to make it to the beach. And with so many miles of wonderful coastline, why wouldn’t they? Whether it’s for a day trip or a whole week, New Jersey beaches are prime locations for summer fun in our great outdoors.
This poll was created in 2008 as the New Jersey’s Top Ten Beaches Survey to encourage stewardship and pride in the state’s beaches while promoting a little healthy competition between New Jersey’s favorite beach towns. It is a way to celebrate everything there is to love about the Jersey Shore. We’ve conducted this poll since 2008 to call attention to New Jersey’s amazing beaches. Over time we’ve learned a thing or two — mostly that New Jerseyans are passionate about all the beaches up and down our coast. So, in order to better recognize every inch of our wonderful coastline, this year we will recognize a number one beach in each of New Jersey’s four coastal counties as well as a favorite beach overall.
This year after nearly 10,000 votes cast in a public poll, New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium revealed the winners in Ocean City, the defending champion of the poll.
In the news
As summer approaches, sharks are often the center of media attention as swimmers enter the water and habitat of these creatures. However, only 6 deaths occur worldwide due to shark attacks while more than 100 people per year die as a result of rip currents in the United States.
Throughout the summer, Dr. Amy Williams will discuss the important of her exciting new trivia game – fittingly deemed Ocean Hazards: Rip Currents vs. Sharks – at libraries and schools throughout local coastal communities. Dr. Williams, New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium Coastal Ecology Extension Agent will present on June 22 to raise awareness about rip currents and what to do if you are caught in one.
For additional information on New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium’s Rip Current Awareness program, please visit https://njseagrant.org/ripcurrents/.
Sea Grant works with coastal communities around the country to strengthen their ability to plan, adapt, and recover to coastal hazards. As part of an effort to visualize the wide breadth of community resilience projects across the National Sea Grant program, Delaware Sea Grant developed this interactive story map.
Take a spin at the Climate Hazards Game with Dr. Michael Schwebel on June 5. Learn firsthand about the decision processes that emergency planners and public officials now face.
Schwebel, Community Resilience and Climate Adaptation Specialist at the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Institute, developed the game as a way to educate audiences of all ages about pressing threats coastal communities face and steps that can be taken to deal with them. Players spin wheels that show the likelihood of various coastal hazards taking place and are challenged to allocate a limited amount of funding to deal with each of them.
Dr. Schwebel’s presentation will take place on June 5 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m at the Eatontown Community Center at 58 Broad Street, Eatontown, N.J.
Take this opportunity to learn the basics about climate change and coastal resiliency and answer the question of the difference between weather and climate. You will also learn what it means to choose eco or ego solutions.
No reservations are needed and the event is recommended for ages 10 and up. Light refreshments will be served.
The event is sponsored by the Eatontown Environmental Commission. For more information, email EEC@yahoo.com or call Sara at 732-890-6772.
Despite the winter storms that worked their way through New Jersey this year, the state’s beaches are ready for the summer influx of beachgoers.
Last week New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium hosted its 14th Annual State of the Shore media event. Each year, this press conference features Dr. Jon Miller’s State of the Shore report — an update on the condition of the state’s beaches. Dr. Miller is New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium’s coastal processes specialist and a research associate professor at Stevens Institute of Technology. This report has been an invaluable tool for those interested in the coast, especially in the years after Sandy.
While New Jersey was spared from a direct hit from a storm such as Sandy, the winter storms that impacted the state did leave their mark, leaving behind narrowed beaches. However, beaches are in a rebuilding mode and are expected to reach their typical width by mid to late summer. Read the full State of the Shore report here.
Miller reported that conditions beneath the waves are important as well. The sand that winter storms Jonas and Joaquin moved off the beaches in many areas have now taken the form of sand bars. The flow of water between these sand bars and the shore could result in rip currents. Dr. Miller cautioned that beachgoers should be extra alert this year for this beach hazard. Read more about rip currents here.
NJDEP Commissioner Bob Martin shared the agenda with Miller and assured that the water quality in New Jersey is excellent and launched their new interactive public access map.
The Commissioner may have summed it up best when he said New Jersey would not be the same without the Jersey Shore. With more than 2900 access points, New Jerseyans have their pick of where they can enjoy the coast.
Check out NJDEP’s new public access map here.