Barnegat Bay Restoration Initiative

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) held a meeting to discuss the status of the Barnegat Bay based on six years of intensive research and a new draft strategy for the bay’s Restoration, Enhancement, and Protection for the Barnegat Bay. 

Cindy Zipf (COA’s Executive Director) and Dr. Swarna Muthukrishnan (COA’s Staff Scientist) attended the meeting at Ocean County College on Aug 09, 2017.  NJDEP presented a series of presentations on the findings of the various research projects conducted since 2011.  These research studies have shown that nutrient pollution, especially, nitrogen, is a major factor for the water quality impairment in Barnegat Bay.  This is not surprising as studies over the last 40 years have been showing these same concerns.  However these studies added more weight and strength to the need to reduce nitrogen loading to the bay, as well as the need to address climate change.

Most importantly, the second half of the meeting focused on the NJDEPS’s draft strategy and actions for restoring the Bay.  The draft strategy includes short- (0-2 yrs), mid-(2-3 yrs), and long-(3-5 yrs) term measures and actions in four areas: Restoration, Enhancement, Protection and Monitoring.  The attendees, long standing advocates for and researchers of Barnegat Bay, including COA, actively participated in offering feedback and comments to improve and prioritize the various action items.  During the meeting, COA emphasized the need to define and differentiate between the goals and objectives, and also advocated the urgent need to better integrate climate change risks in these restoration efforts.