Barrier Net Project

Seining net
The BBP, in partnership with Conserve Wildlife Foundation, launched a sea nettle barrier pilot project during the 2011 bathing season at two beach locations, Lavallette’s bay beach at Brooklyn Avenue and Brick’s Windward Beach on the Metedeconk River (map below). A prototype barrier net was installed around each bathing area to study its effectiveness in limiting contact between bathers and any stinging sea nettles that may have been present. The barrier net was deployed twice a week at each location, weather permitting. It was set up in the morning and removed that same afternoon. Twice a week at each beach, Partnership staff seined both inside and outside the protected area before removing the net. Any jellyfish, fish, and crabs captured by seining or the barrier net were identified, counted, and measured. Water quality data was also recorded. (The photograph of sea nettles captured in the seine net is courtesy of Lindsay Lazarski, NewsWorks.org.)

This pilot project was designed to obtain data about sea nettle populations in the bay and its tributaries, test the effectiveness of the barrier net in excluding sea nettles from bathing beaches, and collect information about any impacts the net may have had on other native fauna.  A total of approximately 14,000 sea nettles were captured and measured during the project (from June through September, 2011), and impact on non-target species was minimal.

While in the field, BBP staff members were able to educate curious beach-goers about the possible causes of the increase in sea nettle numbers and encourage good stewardship of the bay and its resources.  The BBP’s rack card, Get informed about Stinging Jellyfishes in these waters answers common questions about the presence of sea nettles in the bay.

The project continued in the summer of 2012 in both Brick and Lavallette.

The sea nettle barrier project will not be repeated in 2013, since the participating towns are focusing their resources on recovery from Superstorm Sandy.

Barrier Net projet
Photo credit: Google Maps

More about the Barrier Project

Watch our weekly Sea Nettle status updates and other videos on our Youtube Channel.
Barrier Project on Youtube

Reports

Sea Nettle Barrier Pilot Project 2011Sea Nettle Barrier Project 2012 report

Related Links

Sea nettles in the Chesapeake Bay

Media Coverage

Jellyfish explosion in Barnegat Bay worries scientists – Carolyn Beeler, August 5, 2011, NewsWorks/WHYY

Jellyfish Make Bay Waters a Painful Place to Swim – Judy Smestad-Nunn, August 13, 2011, Brick Times

Barnegat Bay in dire straits: New Jersey must do more to help — MaryAnn Spoto, October 16, 2011, The Star Ledger

Watch Out for Nettles – Robyn Stegman, Apr 16, 2024, Ocean Conservancy

Report your own sightings

See a jellyfish at your own beach? JellyWatch, run by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and  Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, is a website where you can report your own jellyfish or other sea creatures and share them with people around the world.

UNKNOWN

There is limited data available to quantify Wetland and Riparian Buffer Preservation, or updated data to quantify Wetland Acreage. The BBP has obtained funding and will begin assessment efforts for both targets, in the next few years.

 

 Hard Clam abundance has not been updated since 2012. Recovery of the stock will be guided by the Fishery Management Plan for Hard Clams, which is under development with the NJDEP, BBP, and other organizations. Reclam the Bay and other partners have continued to plant clams for restoration purposes. Continued plantings in strategic locations which maximize survival and reproduction is one strategy to pursue in the coming years. This work can use a model developed by Rutgers with BBP funding which identified areas where planted clams could have the greatest dispersal of their larvae and thus potentially maximally contribute to the recovery of the stock.

 Water Withdrawals were over the target in the 2021 report; USGS has not yet completed its latest update, so a definitive determination of status is not available. However, additional NJDEP data show that it is likely that we continue to not meet the target. Per capita water use has gone down, demonstrating the effectiveness of water-saving appliances and practices, but that decrease has been offset by population gains. 


IN PROGRESS

New maps quantifying Submerged Aquatic Vegetation extent were developed, but poor image clarity resulted in a high degree of uncertainty in the total acreage. NJDEP and Rutgers are working to resolve the uncertainty of these maps, and improve the total acreage estimate. Funding has also been obtained for further research and restoration activities. Several groups are developing potential restoration actions.

The USGS has completed the first phase of its study to identify minimum ecological flows in select Barnegat Bay tributaries. USGS scientists compared streamflow statistics between historical and current time periods to better understand trends in watershed flow conditions. This work provides a foundation for developing ecological flow targets in the Barnegat Bay watershed.  Similar to SAV extent, funding (approximately $450K) has been obtained by the BBP to complete the remaining phases necessary for threshold determination.

 

TARGETS ACHIEVED

No targets can be considered “Achieved” at this time.

 

NOT ACHIEVING

Several Public Swimming Beaches exceeded their safe swimming standards more frequently than during their baseline time period (2016-2018).

While most beaches are routinely safe for swimming, several problematic areas such as Beachwood, Hancock, Windward, and several lake beaches need track-down studies and restoration to pinpoint and address sources of bacteria.

Acres of Approved Shellfish Waters decreased from the last report. While this decrease was small, it represents a loss of previously approved waters. Similar to public beaches, track-down studies and restoration work are needed to pinpoint and address sources of bacteria.

 

Barrier Net Project

The BBP, in partnership with Conserve Wildlife Foundation, launched a sea nettle barrier pilot project during the 2011 bathing season at two beach locations, Lavallette’s bay beach at Brooklyn Avenue and Brick’s Windward Beach on the Metedeconk River (map below). A prototype barrier net was installed around each bathing area to study its effectiveness in limiting contact between bathers and any stinging sea nettles that may have been present.

Contact Barrier Net ProjectContact Barrier Net Project
Seining net
CREATOR: gd-jpeg v1.0 (using IJG JPEG v62), quality = 100