Grant Will Clean Up Marine Debris

CAPE MAY — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has awarded the New Jersey Audubon Society’s Nature Center of Cape May and Sea Tow a grant for $99,335 to clean up the southernmost waters of New Jersey.
The grant is entitled “Clean Cape May: Working Together to Clear Marine Debris and Improve Our Coastal Habitats.”
The partnership, called “Clean Cape May” for short, will remove debris that has littered the estuarine environment of the greater Cape May Harbor area for decades.
“Cape May is the eighth largest fishing port in the United States, the third largest on the east coast and the largest in the state of New Jersey. The value of a healthy marine and coastal ecosystem cannot be overstated for the area’s economic and social well-being,” said Gretchen Ferrante, project coordinator and director of the Nature Center.
The grant covers the greater Cape May Harbor wetlands area, including Jarvis Sound, Sunset Lake, Taylor Sound, Richardson Sound and Grassy Sound, plus the mouths of their tributaries.
The estuarine habitats within this area play many vital roles for both wildlife and human communities.
The back-barrier lagoon system is characterized by an extensive network of salt marsh islands and small, protected shallow bays connected by a network of channels and tidal creeks. It provides shelter and nutrient resources for a wide variety of commercially and recreationally important fish species, significantly affecting surf clam and ocean quahog, scalloping, fin fish dragging and other fisheries.
The area is considered essential fish habitat for many species of flounder, mackerel, cobia and bluefish. The health of these areas is a strong determinant of the health of the local fisheries.
NOAA’s grant of $99,335 will be matched by $107,138 worth of non-federal funds and in-kind services for an overall project budget of $207,073. Partners supplying in-kind services include the New Jersey Reef Program, the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Cape May, Mid Atlantic Center for the Arts, Atlantic Cape Fisheries, the Cape May Seafood Association and Future Mining and Recycling, Inc.
The “Clean Cape May” project will take three approaches to the marine debris problem: removal of large debris by the Sea Tow Company; community-based clean-up, outreach and education; and prevention.
“While regular community based clean-up efforts have targeted trash for years, we have not had the commitment or the ability to remove large-scale debris until now. Sea Tow has vast experience with removing large items from the coastal environment, and they bring to this project not only the precise equipment, but also the highly specialized knowledge and capability to accomplish the task,” said Ferrante.
A harbor clean up was held Oct. 3 at the Nature Center. In addition to a company of U.S. Coast Guard recruits, Girl Scouts from eastern Pennsylvania joined the effort, collecting seven huge bags of trash from Harborview Park.
For more information on the “Clean Cape May” grant project, call Ferrante at the Nature Center: (609) 898-8848.