September 8, 2022

Celebrating National Estuaries Week

by S-FX.com

paddleboard

National Estuaries Week is an annual celebration of our amazing estuaries, including Barnegat Bay! This year’s National Estuaries Week is September 17th-24th, and the theme is Wade In. With cooler temperatures, it’s the perfect time to get outside and explore all Barnegat Bay has to offer. Check out our Events Calendar to view the many fun activities available that week. Try something new, and maybe get a little wet or muddy in the process!

Saturday, September 17th

Do you like to paddle board? The week kicks off with SUP the River, a stand-up paddle board race on the Toms River from 9 a.m. to noon. You can register for a 3-mile or 6-mile race, sprint race, or fun kid-friendly short paddle.

RCTB Upweller
Photo courtesy of ReClam the Bay.

Enjoy a free ReClam the Bay program, See, Touch & Learn from Baby Shellfish, at one of their many upwellers, where volunteers raise juvenile clams and oysters. Learn about Barnegat Bay and the creatures who live in it. See and touch tiny baby clams and oysters while you talk to the ReClam the Bay volunteers who are helping to improve the bay. There are multiple programs throughout the week at different locations in Ocean County and at different times of the day.  Visit ReClam the Bay’s Calendar of Events to find one near you.

Tour the Rutgers Marine Field Station (RUMFS) and Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve (JC NERR) at an Open House event from 10:00 am-3:00 pm (all outdoors, rain or shine). Meet Rutgers and JC NERR researchers and scientists and explore their exciting research with interactive booths, touch tank, and children’s activities. Entry to RUMFS will only be available by pre-registered time slots (limited quantity available). Visit this website to register. No tickets are required for the JC NERR; visit anytime from 10 to 3.

Rutgers Marine Field Station 1170x562 1 1024x492 1
Photo courtesy of Rutgers Marine Field Station

Monday, September 19th

It’s been ten years since Superstorm Sandy devastated coastal areas in New Jersey. Learn from the experts in a new Rutgers webinar series about how our state has become more resilient to environmental impacts, with an emphasis on storms and extreme weather. The first webinar in the series, Extreme Weather Events, will be presented by Dr. David Robinson, NJ State Climatologist, at 6:30 p.m. on September 19th. Register for this webinar and any of the others in the series at https://go.rutgers.edu/Sandy.

Tuesday, September 20th

Join us for a relaxing Barnegat Bay Boat Cruise along the shores of Cattus Island. Chris Claus, a naturalist with Ocean County Parks & Recreation, will be on board the park system’s Bay Cruiser II to answer questions and interpret the sights and sounds of the bay. Registration is required. Reserve your seat early — space is limited.

032 Scaled

Saturday, September 24th

Experience bay culture and traditions at the Old Time Barnegat Bay Decoy & Gunning Show from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This Ocean County Parks & Recreation two-day event has over 300 exhibitors and contests, food vendors, and music. Contests at the show include Skeet Shooting, Duck Calling, Retrieving, and Decoy Carving. Admission is free, and there’s a free shuttle service from parking areas to the two show locations – Tip Seaman County Park and Tuckerton Seaport. For more information, visit the event webpage or call (609) 971-3085.

Explore More Insights from Barnegat Bay

Dive deeper into the ongoing efforts to protect and restore our environment with more updates and initiatives that you can take part in. Check out our latest blog posts for valuable tips and insights.

View All

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.

 

Celebrating National Estuaries Week

National Estuaries Week is an annual celebration of our amazing estuaries, including Barnegat Bay! This year’s National Estuaries Week is September 17th-24th, and the theme is Wade In. With cooler temperatures, it’s the perfect time to get outside and explore all Barnegat Bay has to offer. Check out our Events Calendar to view the many fun activities available that week. Try something new, and maybe get a little wet or muddy in the process!

Saturday, September 17th

Do you like to paddle board? The week kicks off with SUP the River, a stand-up paddle board race on the Toms River from 9 a.m. to noon. You can register for a 3-mile or 6-mile race, sprint race, or fun kid-friendly short paddle.

RCTB Upweller
Photo courtesy of ReClam the Bay.

Enjoy a free ReClam the Bay program, See, Touch & Learn from Baby Shellfish, at one of their many upwellers, where volunteers raise juvenile clams and oysters. Learn about Barnegat Bay and the creatures who live in it. See and touch tiny baby clams and oysters while you talk to the ReClam the Bay volunteers who are helping to improve the bay. There are multiple programs throughout the week at different locations in Ocean County and at different times of the day.  Visit ReClam the Bay’s Calendar of Events to find one near you.

Tour the Rutgers Marine Field Station (RUMFS) and Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve (JC NERR) at an Open House event from 10:00 am-3:00 pm (all outdoors, rain or shine). Meet Rutgers and JC NERR researchers and scientists and explore their exciting research with interactive booths, touch tank, and children’s activities. Entry to RUMFS will only be available by pre-registered time slots (limited quantity available). Visit this website to register. No tickets are required for the JC NERR; visit anytime from 10 to 3.

Rutgers Marine Field Station 1170x562 1 1024x492 1
Photo courtesy of Rutgers Marine Field Station

Monday, September 19th

It’s been ten years since Superstorm Sandy devastated coastal areas in New Jersey. Learn from the experts in a new Rutgers webinar series about how our state has become more resilient to environmental impacts, with an emphasis on storms and extreme weather. The first webinar in the series, Extreme Weather Events, will be presented by Dr. David Robinson, NJ State Climatologist, at 6:30 p.m. on September 19th. Register for this webinar and any of the others in the series at https://go.rutgers.edu/Sandy.

Tuesday, September 20th

Join us for a relaxing Barnegat Bay Boat Cruise along the shores of Cattus Island. Chris Claus, a naturalist with Ocean County Parks & Recreation, will be on board the park system’s Bay Cruiser II to answer questions and interpret the sights and sounds of the bay. Registration is required. Reserve your seat early — space is limited.

032 Scaled

Saturday, September 24th

Experience bay culture and traditions at the Old Time Barnegat Bay Decoy & Gunning Show from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This Ocean County Parks & Recreation two-day event has over 300 exhibitors and contests, food vendors, and music. Contests at the show include Skeet Shooting, Duck Calling, Retrieving, and Decoy Carving. Admission is free, and there’s a free shuttle service from parking areas to the two show locations – Tip Seaman County Park and Tuckerton Seaport. For more information, visit the event webpage or call (609) 971-3085.

Contact Celebrating National Estuaries WeekContact Celebrating National Estuaries Week
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