Marine Sanctuary - Navesink River update

[FVPelican]

Clean Ocean Action is moving ahead with the Rally for the Navesink initiative to identify sources of the pollution in the Navesink and work to find solutions. There is a public meeting Thursday, August 11th at 7 PM at the Presbyterian Church in Rumson (4 East River Road).

NJ DEP will present recent test results. More details at Rally for the Navesink on Facebook.

Several groups including the RFA, the Baykeeper, the Littoral Society and local recreation and conservation groups are cosponsoring this effort. The Navesink Maritime Heritage Association is one of them. Mr. Van Hemmen, the primary supporter of the sanctuary proposal, has stated that he will suspend his push for the sanctuary and work with the COA initiative. He has also said that if the COA effort "succeeds, the need for an NMS may simply disappear."

Two good things might come out of the Rally for the Navesink - Clean up of the river and an end to the sanctuary proposal.

There is one fishing club listed as a co-sponsor. I would like to see more. If your club wants to sign on, or if you have any questions, let me know.

Jim Krauss
RFA NJ Chapter Chair
732-291-2211
JKRFANJ@gmail.com

[Gerry Zagorski]

This is great news if it plays out the way you described... The area gets cleaned up and we don't need a federal marine sanctuary and all the potential restrictive use rules that go along with it.

This is what most have been saying all along and at the meetings... If you want it cleaned up then lets get the local groups involved and do just that. We don't need the federal government involved, we can do it ourselves.

I love it when a plan come together and glad to see the NJ RFA behind it as well.

High Fives all around!!

[1captainron]

Major source of pollution in the River is all the pesticides sprayed on all those fancy lawns....if you think for one minute those people will stop doing that to save a fish, a lake or the River, think again!

[bowhunter]

Major source of pollution in the River is all the pesticides sprayed on all those fancy lawns....if you think for one minute those people will stop doing that to save a fish, a lake or the River, think again!

Biting My tounge.

[stevelikes2fish]

Who is planning on attending the meeting to morrow night?

[chicago bill]

probably a combination of herbicides, pesticides and failing or improper septic systems. quick note : i used to go out in the yard here in IL and get LOTS of night crawlers for freshwater fishing in a short time. i was gone for a while and in the meantime my dad was talked in to getting a lawn treatment ( chem lawn or similar ). guess what - no more f---ing worms - NOT ONE for quite a while. all that crap goes down the storm sewers and into the rivers and lakes. i'm not an enviro nut but i saw fist hand what happened. never again !!!

[Capt. Debbie]

The source of that pollution is tough to nail down. Since the pollution is fecal related I don't know if pesticides on fancy lawns to be jealous of make much of a contribution.

Have crabbed there decades and I have ALWAYS noticed the quality of water degrades VERY quickly west of the 35 Bridge. Superstorm Sandy highlighted for crabbers. You get weird debris like tree branches and leaves back there like a fresh water stream. Very few snappers and jellyfish back there late summer in particular which is very odd.

If I had some money to bet, I would bet the source of the Navesink pollution is west of the Front Street bridge.

[NoLimit]

Look at how many winter flounder there used to be in that PDF in the other post.

They are all gone and when the flounder and crab go missing along with most of the fluke and weakfish, the whole ecology of the river is disrupted. Its going to die without these former residents. Water clarity or color means nothing. Raw sewage means nothing. The best flounder fishing in the world was in Quincy bay when Boston dumped raw sewage into the water for decades.

[dfish28]

Research Shadow Lake...

[JBird]

It's a lot of things: the sewerage treatment plants, storm drain runoff from the streets with oil, antifreeze, road salt etc, lawn treatment pesticides/fertilizer, the pesticides from the orchards west of Shadow Lake, general scumbag human activity. The list is long.

[Capt Sal]

Biting My tounge.

Reality! Same with the Indian River Lagoon in Florida. After millions in reseach they say the fertilizers from all the River Front homes is polluting the eco-system.