THE FORMER OFFICERS’ club at Fort Hancock on Sandy Hook, where New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium has its headquarters, is now among the buildings available to be leased, according to a report on NJ.com. The National Park Service, which controls the former Army artillery fort, is looking for non-profit organizations and private investors to hold long term leases on the club and 35 other buildings.
ThisNew Jersey Monthly article on invasive species may not be about the Garden State’s coastal ecosystems, but it highlights a widespread problem nonetheless. The consortium is attacking invasive species on two fronts.
Mike Danko, the NJSGC marine recreation extension agent, is involved in a multi-state campaign to convince recreational anglers to throw-out bait packed in seaweed rather than dumping into the water.
The Coast Guard has had their work cut out for them. A pilot was killed when his plane crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off of Atlantic City last week. The small plane was recovered from the sea floor. A tow boat sunk off Sandy Hook, and the captain was pulled alive from open water. It’s the second vessel to sink near Sandy Hook this month.
Meanwhile, NY Waterway will launch the first ferries built in New Jersey for at least a century.
Prodigy to pariah: N.J. oysterman’s bizarre battle with the state — Marc Zitter, an oyster farmer in Cape May County, filed a lawsuit against state Department of Environmental Protection employees after illegal harvesting charges against him were dropped. Two years ago, conservation officers seized Zitter’s boat, ATV and tens of thousands of dollars in gear, loaded Zitter’s 600,000-plus oysters into pickup trucks, hauled them on a boat to the middle of Delaware Bay and dumped them overboard, basket by basket. Then, Zitter was charged with the harvesting from prohibited waters and arrested outside his home. He’s suing for $3 million in damages to his business. Read more at NJ.com. Read More …
Mr. Andresen’s 40-foot boat, known as El Jefe, right. Credit Sally Stopper. Source: The New York Times
The New York Times sent a reporter to Belford Seafoof Co-op in Middletown in the wake of Capt. Tom Anderson’s death. The writer presents a small glimpse into the Anderson’s life, who came to commercial fishing only after he retired, and the commercial fishing port, which is a small tight-knit community.
Last week, one forecasting model predicted a New Jersey strike, but meteorologists interviewed by NJ.com were largely unconcerned. On Aug. 29, Erika dissipated over Eastern Cuba, according to a report on Weather.com.
One of the biggest digs at New Jersey is there is a cost to walk. Officials in Seaside Heights planned to charge for beach access after Labor Day, which is against custom in most locations. But they’ve reversed that decision, according to Newsworks.org. Lifeguards will remain on duty in a limited capacity through September. Read More …
Boats head out of Manasquan Inlet last year for a day of fishing. Photo: John Oswald/For the Asbury Park Press
Right now, meteorologists are tracking Hurricane Erika. One model out of Canada does show that the storm could hit New Jersey, according to an NJ.com report. But, what’s more likely is the strom will make landfall somewhere between Florida and South Carolina. The storm will probably careen into the East Coast sometime late into the Labor Day weekend. Beyond that, the forecasts are just too unreliable because landfall in the United States is too far out in time.
“Is the Canadian model’s solution impossible,” NJ.com asked. “No. But should New Jersey panic? Hardly.”
“It’s not like you’re going to wake up tomorrow and realize you have 48 hours to react to something,” Gary Szatkowski, meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service’s Mount Holly office, told NJ.com. “We’re in the heart of hurricane season — there’s nothing abnormal about this.”
NJSGC in the News
Dr. Jon Miller, the NJSGC coastal process specialist based at Stevens Institute of Technology, Dr. Amy Williams, a post-doctoral researcher working with Miller, and Dr. Peter Rowe, the consortium’s director of research and extension, spoke about storm surge and the Coastal Storm Awarness Program in Long Branch. The outreach program designed to help people living on the Jersey Shore understand the intricacies of storm surges was covered by the Asbury Park Press and the Atlanticville.
The three marine scientists, and others, made a second presentation in Cape May last weekend about surge and Dune It Right, the consortium’s manual for dune restoration projects. A final presentation about surge and dunes will be held Sept. 23 at the Ocean County Library on Long Beach Island.
The Marine Trades Association is sponsoring the annual Jersey Shore Boat Sale & Expo at First Energy Park in Lakewood. NJSGC is sponsoring the Kids Zone on Saturday and Sunday. Read a preview of the event scheduled for September 18-20 at BoatingIndustry.com, or at Trade Only Today. More information about the boat show can be found at www.jerseyboatexpo.com. Read More …
This is a round-up of the week’s marine science and marine recreation news throughout the state from Aug. 8 to Aug. 14.
The biggest news this week was a mysterious, circular brown plume that appeared in Barnegat Bay, and the death of a dolphin that strayed into the fresh waters of the South River.
New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium provides funding to Rutgers University Water Resources Program at Cook College. Michelle Hartman, the consortium’s water resources expert based there, can provide insight for stories such as the brown plume in Barnegat Bay. And the consortium’s Director of Research & Extension, Dr. Peter Rowe, is a good source on stories like the death of the dolphin.
Reporters interested in speaking with a New Jersey Sea Grant Expert can email consortium’s communications office at 732-872-1300 x.18, email communications specialist Matthew McGrath or search the consortium’s experiste database.
Finally, an interveiw that Dr. Jon Miller, the consortium’s coastal process specialist, gave to CBS Radio late last week about rip currents was picked up by several media outlets Friday and Saturday.
Dr. Jon Miller, the NJSGC coastal process specialist, spoke with CBS Radio on Friday about the possibility of weekend rip currents cause by a passing storm over the ocean.
Sometimes, it’s easy to spot rip currents from shore, Miller said. But, they are not always visible. Miller’s advice is simple: swim near a lifeguard and don’t do things in the ocean that you know you’re not capable of doing.
Miller’s warning comes at a time when authorities have scoured the beach at Sandy Hook for two days looking for a missing 25-year-old man. His body was recovered Friday, according to the Asbury Park Press. Rip currents have not been identified in the man’s drowning. However, authorities told the Press the man was not a skilled swimmer and swam in the ocean after lifeguards had left the beach.
Last year, a 17-year-old boy drowned at Sandy Hook after being caught in a rip current.
For more information about rip currents such as how to identify them and what to do if you are caught in one, click here.
Boy Scouts who want to earn the oceanography and environmental science merit badges can now register for fall classes. The programs are open to all Boy Scouts. To register for either program, contact Jody Sackett JSackett@njseagrant.org or 732-872-1300, ext. 20.
