Beaches are Ready But Proceed With Caution, Coastal Experts Say

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Shawn LaTourette, right, New Jersey’s Commissioner of Environmental Protection, spoke at the annual State of the Shore event, along with coastal experts from New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium. Sunayana Prabhu

By Sunayana Prabhu

ASBURY PARK – Summer beachgoers are about to throng the Jersey Shore, but with rip currents, extreme weather conditions and potential shark bites, are the beaches ready to handle an influx of visitors? Coastal experts and state officials have declared that the Jersey Shore is “ready for summer” but urged swimmers to combine fun with caution.

The coastal beaches and inland lakes of the Garden State “are ready for this incredible summer,” declared Shawn M. LaTourette, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, at the annual State of the Shore event organized by New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium in Asbury Park May 25. The event provided a status report of New Jersey’s shorelines through last winter and a forecast on the conditions to watch out for during the 2023 summer season.

Shore Protection And Beach Nourishment

New Jersey’s beaches and dunes, maritime forests and coastal wetlands continue to play a critical role in the economic and ecological vitality of the state.


Sheri Shifren, New Jersey Beach Monitoring Program manager, said there are 14 environmental monitoring stations set up along Two River-area beaches and rivers. At least one monitoring station has been set up this year to monitor the water quality of the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers which are used for paddleboarding and kayaking in warmer months. The monitoring station is located near Shrewsbury River Yacht Club in Fair Haven where river water is sampled weekly and results are displayed on signs along both riverfronts. Residents can also follow njbeaches.org to check for any advisory and water quality.

According to the Sea Grant report, the NJDEP performed water quality monitoring last year at 193 ocean, 20 bay and seven river stations.

The NJDEP under Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration implements coastal resilience planning and adaptation which includes robust dune and beach construction and nourishment projects. The state invests in climate resilience initiatives, shore protection endeavors, beach nourishment projects and engineering solutions to monitor water quality, yet they are “not enough” to withstand the threats of climate change, said LaTourette. “The truth is that New Jersey is ground zero for some of the worst impacts of climate change, and we only get ready for that together.”

Imploring local and federal leaders to build resilience against rising sea levels and extreme weather conditions, he said, “We have to embrace regulatory reforms that will help us build today the things that will stand the test of time.”

Beach Erosion And Flooding

Jon K. Miller, Sea Grant coastal processes specialist and director of the Coastal Engineering Group for the Stevens Institute of Technology, reported that the beaches this year are in “good condition” because of mild winters the past five years and sustained beach nourishment projects implemented along the coastline. However, the coastline did endure two mild but persistent storms with the remnants of Hurricane Ian and a Dec. 23 winter storm. Both the storms led to significant erosion which is “temporary,” Miller said, and the beach will build naturally over the summer. But mild storms like these that last several days are like “death by 1,000 cuts,” he said, and as sea levels rise, such storms “are going to become more common in the future.”

As far as larger storms go, the Sea Grant Consortium report’s tropical forecast for this year estimates 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and the potential for three major hurricanes of “Category 3 or larger” along the Atlantic Coast.

Rip Currents And A Shark Attack

Miller urged swimmers to wear life jackets and avoid beaches without lifeguards to prevent succumbing to the “hidden danger” of rip currents which continue to cost lives every summer. For “hundreds of people” who are rescued from rip currents each year, Miller said, there are “a handful of people who perish in rip currents and it’s something that is preventable.”

A more visible danger is from rare but predatory marine life, like the one that struck in Stone Harbor last month. The Stone Harbor Volunteer Fire Company confirmed in a statement on social media that a surfer had injuries “consistent with those typically associated with a shark of unknown size and type.” However, Miller said, “The important thing is that the number of actual shark attacks is extremely low, given the number of people on our beaches.”

“The number of deaths are microscopically low.”

The article originally appeared in the June 1 – 7, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.