New Jersey’s beaches are ready for the summer tourism season, Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette said during an annual “State of the Shore” event in Asbury Park.
Each year the event, sponsored by the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium, helps to kick off the tourism season by updating the public on beach readiness and coastal water quality.
Dr. Jon K. Miller, Sea Grant coastal processes specialist, director of the Coastal Engineering Group and research associate professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology, provided an overview of beach conditions along the coast, according to a release on the event.
“Due to the combination of a lack of storms and efforts by federal, state and local officials to maintain and replenish beaches where necessary, most of the state’s beaches are in excellent condition,” Miller said.
The beaches fared well during the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. Impacts to the beach and dune systems were minimal and mostly temporary, the release said.
Since the end of the 2024 hurricane season, New Jersey has not experienced any significant coastal storms. Most of the weather events that influenced erosion were short-lived, leaving much of the coast in good shape for the summer.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in partnership with DEP, successfully completed two periodic beach replenishment projects this year – one in Lower Cape May Meadows and the other along Absecon Island.
DEP partners with local health agencies to conduct weekly bacterial water sampling of ocean beaches from mid-May through September. Information about the status of public recreational beaches and water quality is available at njbeaches.org.
