The Jersey Shoreline: Oct. 2

The Jersey Shoreline  is a weekly round-up from New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium that scours the Garden State’s press and broadcasters for reports on several key topics related to the consortium’s research and outreach.

The news of the week is undoubtedly Hurricane Joaquin and an accompanying storm. For most of the week there was uncertainty about whether the hurricane would make landfall or remain offshore. Regardless, New Jersey will likely be impacted by the Joaquin in some manner.

In preparation for the storm, Gov. Chris Christie declared on Thursday a state of emergency, according to a report in the Record. By Friday morning, forecasters predicted that the storm would veer away from the Garden State, according another Record report. However, a Nor’easter has the potential to dump 1/2-inch to 1-inch of rain accompanied by 35-mile-per-hour wind gusts.

To help you prepare for coastal storms, New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium has curated these tools.

Aquaculture & Commercial Fishing

New Jersey wants another year to decide whether to try oysters as pollution reducers — New Jersey wants another year to decide one of its most intractable environmental issues: whether to allow experimental oyster colonies in polluted areas to see if they can help clean the waterways. The research is designed to see if re-establishing oysters in areas like the Raritan Bay can help improve water quality by using their natural filtering techniques. Read more at U.S. News and World Report from the Associated Press.

Advocates: Oyster farming may hurt threatened shorebirds — Environmentalists and coastal researchers say New Jersey’s efforts to establish commercial oyster farms in shallow coastal waters may be jeopardizing a threatened shorebird. Read more at Salon from the Associated Press.

Coastal Concerns

PSE&G To Use Helicopter Crane In To Minimize Construction Impact On Meadowlands — Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G) announced today that the utility is using helicopter construction to minimize environmental impacts on certain sensitive areas of the Northeast Grid transmission line project in North Arlington. Read more at the Bergen Dispatch.

Study: Sea level rise increasing major storms off New Jersey — A new study looking back over 1,000 years finds the flooding risk along the New York and New Jersey coasts increased greatly after industrialization, and major storms that once might have occurred every 500 years could soon happen every 25 years or so. Read more via the Associated Press.

Community Resilience & Climate Adaptation

NJ in final stage of competition for up to $326M to pay for flood relief in 10 Meadowlands towns — New Jersey has reached the final stage of a federal competition that could provide up to $326 million for a project to help 10 communities in the Meadowlands reduce flooding from storm surge. Read more at the Record via NorthJersey.com.

DEAL LAKE DREDGING PROJECT GETS $1.66 MILLION AWARD — Department of Environmental Protection [DEP] Commissioner Bob Martin announced a $1.66 million contract to remove sand pushed by Superstorm Sandy into Deal Lake has been awarded to Tri-State Dredging of Philadelphia. Read more at the Asbury Park Sun.

INSPECTOR GENERAL AUDIT QUESTIONS CITY’S SANDY SPENDING — According to a Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general audit report made available Wednesday, Asbury Park must account for how it spent FEMA grant monies received for Superstorm Sandy debris removal and emergency work. Read more at the Asbury Park Sun.

Still recovering from Sandy, Delaware Bayshore prepares for Hurricane Joaquin — Still rebuilding from when Superstorm Sandy flooded the Delaware Bayshore and devastated infrastructure and property three years ago, Cumberland and Salem counties are bracing themselves for another hurricane. Read more at NJ.com.

After 3 years of promises, Shore towns still vulnerable post-Sandy — With Hurricane Joaquin looming hundreds of miles south in the Atlantic Ocean, bulldozers plodded along the Atlantic coast in Sea Bright on Thursday, plowing sand to plug gaps in a stone-and-concrete sea wall. Read more at NJ.com.

Marine Recreation & Jersey Shore Tourism

Hurricane Joaquin: 3 tips to protect your boat — While it is still up in the air as to whether Hurricane Joaquin will hit the Jersey Shore, boat owners with vessels still in the water will want to take some precautions to ensure their craft makes it through the storm. Read more at the Asbury Park Press.

Water Resources & Coastal Access

MacArthur announces bill to protect Barnegat Bay — The bill seeks to address nonpoint source pollution, or runoff from homes and businesses that gets washed into the bay, MacArthur’s office said in a statement. The Save Our Bays Act would provide tax credits of as much as $3,000 to individuals and businesses to develop and implement plans to better manage runoff into the bay. Read more at the Press of Atlantic City.

N.J. environmentalists fight attempt to rezone Meadowlands — Wetlands environmentalists are up in arms over a developer’s request to rezone 5.767 acres of protected land to make way for a motel, but the developer’s lawyer says the area shouldn’t be protected because it’s not actually wetlands. Read more at NJ.com.

Neighbors Call For Open Space Preservation On Firehouse Acreage — Pioneer Hose Fire Company is selling 10 acres of its wooded property behind their firehouse on Drum Point Road, and it is under contract with an unnamed builder as negotiations continue. Read more at the Brick Times via Micromedia Publications.

Dems fight change in river buffer zones — Democrats in the state Legislature are trying to block the Christie administration from changing rules that limit development along the state’s rivers and streams, arguing that the changes would make it easier for developers to build on the ecologically sensitive strips of land, increase flooding and degrade water quality. Read more at the Record via NorthJersey.com.