SANDY HOOK –– After finishing with seven of the state’s top 10 beaches in last year’s inaugural survey, Cape May County resident and visitors can again vote for their favorite sandy real estate.
With the end of winter less than one month away, the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium/New Jersey Sea Grant, (NJMSC/NJSG) and the Richard Stockton College Coastal Research Center, are ready to heat up the competition to help determine New Jersey’s Top Ten Beaches for 2009, a release stated.
According to the release, the team will officially launch the annual New Jersey’s Top Ten Beaches Survey and begin accepting votes at the survey’s Web site, njtoptenbeaches.org on Wednesday, February 25 at noon.
The Survey, now in its second year, gave winning beaches increased visibility in 2008 and catapulted beach communities from Sandy Hook to Cape May into the national spotlight.
The basic format of the Survey remains the same: users can vote via the web for their favorite New Jersey beach in each of four categories. But this year, input from tourism officials and other users led survey managers to downscale last year’s sixty-plus beach list to forty-two shore communities. The revised list is expected to generate even greater voting activity and interest in the survey due to its more narrowed focus. Additionally, the Top Ten Beaches Survey now has a presence on the immensely popular social networking site Facebook, which will allow voters and other users to keep updated on any Survey news.
The brainchild of Dr. Stewart Farrell, Professor of Marine Science at Richard Stockton College, and Kim Kosko, Director of Communications for NJMSC and NJSG, the Survey was originally designed to promote stewardship and pride in New Jersey’s beaches among New Jerseyans and help generate pre-summer interest about the Jersey among visitors and residents.
According to Project Coordinator Marsha Samuel, Communication Specialist for NJMSC/NJSG, “The current economic climate will likely have more people considering vacations and day-trips closer to home this summer. We’re hoping this year’s survey will stimulate excitement about the Jersey Shore and the local economy.”
Voting for the New Jersey Top Ten Beach Survey will continue through midnight on May 1 after which time the public Survey results will be tallied and combined with the more objective beach data collected by Dr. Stewart Farrell and his team at the Richard Stockton College Coastal Research Center. Survey results will be announced at the NJMSC/NJSG’s State of the Shore Media Event, which is set for Thursday, May 21st at the Seagull’s Nest on Sandy Hook.
Last year, nearly 15,000 votes were received and Wildwood Beach was chosen as New Jersey’s best.
Here was the top ten list:
1. Wildwood
2. Wildwood Crest
3. Ocean City
4. North Wildwood
5. Cape May
6. Asbury Park
7. Avalon
8. Point Pleasant Beach
9. Beach Haven
10. Stone Harbor
Wildwood also took home top honors in two special categories, being hailed as the state’s Best Beach for Tourism and for Events. Wildwood Crest won for Best Family Vacation Beach and Island Beach State Park for Ecotourism.
Beaches winning in each of the special categories as well as the top beach overall received a special sign denoting the honor. NJMSC anticipates conducting the Top Ten Beaches Survey annually.
The New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium is an affiliation of colleges, universities and public sector groups dedicated to advancing greater knowledge of New Jersey’s marine and coastal environment. NJMSC meets its mission through innovative research, education and outreach designed to address coastal sustainability and ecosystem health, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, marine technology, science-based management and science literacy. For more information about NJMSC and its activities, visit www.njmsc.org.
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