May 21st, 2015
ASBURY PARK — The New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium issued Thursday its annual State of the Shore report
The cold and snow of the past winter had little impact on the state’s beaches. Thanks to realtively few coastal storms, typical waves and minor flooding, the beaches and dunes were not punished by eroision.
Click here to read the full report.
Two years of mild winters has lead to most of the more than 14 million cubic yards of sand washed away by Superstorm Sandy to be replaced by natural processes. The natural replacement of sand has been bolstered by Army Corps of Engineers beach renourishment projects.
Commissioner Bob Martin, of the state Department of Environmental Protection, which is a NJSGC-member organization, spoke about the state’s efforts in conjunction with the federal government to rebuild Sandy-damaged beaches throughout the state, the water quality at those beaches and the low number of days in which beaches needed to be closed last summer.
Click here to read an NJDEP statement about commissioner Martin’s remarks.
September 16th, 2014
Hundreds of pounds of spat, or baby oysters were taken Sunday from the Haskin Shellfish Laboratory where they had been growing in mud flats and relocated to artificial reefs along the Delaware Bay shore.
The spat had been growing on the surface of shell-filled mesh bags since the early summer near the Rutgers University Haskin Shellfish Laboratory’s Cape Shore facility in Cape May County as part of Project PORTS: Promoting Oyster Restoration Through Schools, or PORTS. The bags were relocated by barge to a 5-acre reef located at the Gandy’s Beach Oyster Restoration and Enhancement Area in the Delaware Bay off Cumberland County. Led by Lisa Calvo, Shellfish Aquaculture Coordinator for Rutgers University and the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium, Project PORTS has seeded more than 20 million oysters in conservation sites like Gandy’s Beach throughout the Delaware Bay since it began in 2007.
Since 2007, Rutgers has seeded more than 20 million oysters in conservation sites throughout the Delaware Bay through Project: PORTS.
“Scientific assessments indicate these restoration efforts have been successful,” said Jenny Paterno, a Rutgers graduate student examining the fish activity in the restoration areas and nearby parts of the bay. “A viable multi-generational oyster population, approaching natural oyster abundances, has been established in an area that was previously barren.”
Oyster populations have been decimated in many areas due to disease and overfishing. “Advancing Eastern Oyster Aquaculture through Marker-Assisted Selection” is one of New Jersey Sea Grant’s funded research projects for 2014-16. Dr. Ximing Gou, and his team at the Haskin Laboratory, are attempting to breed oysters with specific genetic markers that will assist the species in fighting diseases. Read More …