Manasquan Ridge could be in trouble

[Joey Dah Fish]

Give this a read please

Here is the link to the article http://www.app.com/story/news/local/...sand/87030766/

[FASTEDDIE29]

I fish this area on a buddy's boat out of Manasquan river club in Aug, early Sept! They better leave that ridge alone! Asshats!!!!

[njdiver]

FISHING & BOATING

N.J. fishermen fear loss of huge underwater sand hill

Dan Radel, @DanielRadelAPP

The appearance of the 123-foot offshore supply vessel Scarlett Isabella on the Manasquan Ridge is a bad omen to Capt. Jim Lovgren, a Point Pleasant Beach commercial fishermen.

The Scarlett was in the hire of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is looking for potential sand on the outer continental shelf that could be pumped up onto the Jersey beach. Tampering with these sand beds, which are long-established fishing areas, could reshape the fishing communities at the Shore, fishermen say.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The Manasquan Ridge, identified in the green rectangle furthest east on this U.S. Army Corps of Engineers map, could be used for a sand replenishment project to the ire of fishermen.

The ridge, which starts to rise off the ocean floor 5 ½ miles southeast of Manasquan Inlet, is one of those potential resources of sand.

"Last year word was that Manasquan Ridge was a last resort for beach replenishment use. The fact that they are paying a survey vessel to crisscross it clearly says something different," said Lovgren, who sits on the Executive Board of the Garden State Seafood Association.

Fishermen have been weary of a conflict with the Army Corps of Engineers over the ridge, and others nearby, which they depend on to hold fish.

They are still bitter about Army Corps' use of nearly half of the 683-acre Harvey Cedars Lump for the Long Beach Island to Little Egg Inlet beach replenishment project.

"It's always a bad idea to destroy a ridge. You know, the government is worried about overfishing but they have no problem destroying a fishing habitat," said Capt. Dale Steinart, a long-time party boat captain.

The Manasquan Ridge is 1,700 acres - about 1,500 football fields - of underwater sand hills that rise about 20 feet off the bottom. There are a few scattered shipwrecks and rock ledges on it.

Baitfish called sand eels survive in its eelgrass, which in turn attract the state's most commercially valuable finfish: summer flounder.

Commercial fishermen like Lovgren tow their nets east to west, north to south to gather up the fish.

In 2014 commercial landings of summer flounder statewide netted fishermen $4.8 million on the wholesale market, according to the latest figures from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Pt. Pleasant Beach, NJ Thursday, July 21, 2016 @dhoodhood
Flotillas of party boats have historically drifted the ridge for bluefish and mackerel.

The Army Corps has it in its sights now for sand to maintain a $5.1 million coastal dune project from Manasquan Inlet to Island Beach State Park. It said the ridge has 38.6 million cubic yards of suitable beach fill material.

"We're not going to use it at the project start. But we are looking at it for the long term. It's a 50-year planning project," said Ed Voigt, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Philadelphia District.

The Army Corps identify's the Manasquan Ridge as "Borrow Area F2." After initial construction of the on-shore berms, it wants to replenish the beach every four years with 961,000 cubic yards of sand. That would total about 12 million cubic yards, or a third of the ridge, over the 50-year span of work. Giant Stadium, for example, can hold 64 million cubic yards from top to bottom.

It said there are no economically viable land sources of sand for the large quantities needed for these projects. The ridge's sand is also the right grain texture, the corps said.

The Army Corps would need the Bureau of Ocean Energy's permission to vacuum it up because that agency has jurisdiction over sand in federal waters, typically 3 to 200 nautical miles from the shoreline.

To this point they haven't asked for permission, said Marjorie Weisskohl, BOEM spokesperson.

The project — long bogged down on land as the state Department of Environmental Protection collected easements from seaside property owners — could go out to bid in September and begin as early as next spring season, Voigt said.

It still faces holdouts in the towns of Point Pleasant Beach, Bay Head, part of Mantoloking and Berkeley. Those areas will not get fill at the start of the project, said Voigt.

THE PROJECT: Ocean Co. dune project could start next year

The DEP remains adamant about getting this coastal project completed after the devastation caused by Sandy almost four years ago.

"What’s at stake is protection of lives, homes, businesses and infrastructure, as well as many thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in tourism revenues," said Larry Hajna, a DEP spokesperson.
Fishermen, however, say that removing the sand could have unintended consequences.

"To take away some of this is going to change the ecosystem of the area that's there," said Capt. William Egerter Jr. skipper of the party boat Dauntless.

http://www.app.com/story/news/local/...sand/87030766/

[Capt. Lou]

This could a disaster for this area , a super fall late summer fluke grounds . Took,hundreds of Tuna up two several hundred LB's off that ridge in the 60/70's & many of surrounding lumps .
We must protect the integrity of this ridge , be like taking away SR's !!

[Flip]

If they do take the Ridge then they should replace it with some type of artificial reef at least.

[Duffman]

Totally naive on the subject so have to ask.....why does the sand being pumped have to come from a high spot (mani ridge\cedars)?

Why not pump from some flat contour-less bottom and in turn create a ditch? The beach gets sand and you've created more structure.

[skate king]

Great question Duffman! Only answer I can. Come up with is the present Government is involved! Can anyone on the site provide a reasonable reason?

[Billfish715]

The first high bottom to go was the Klondike when the draggers raked the bottom with their gear. The once prolific sandeels that called Manasquan Ridge home are nowhere near the levels they once were in that same location. That area gets raked as well so what's going on here? No bait, no fish!

I agree, the bottom structure should not be disrupted just to provide the beaches with sand that will, in a short time, be swept back into the ocean and once again need to be replaced. Has anyone tried to get access to the private beaches that are being replenished? You have? How far did you have to walk to get on the sand?

Is this project designed to protect the shoreline from erosion and the flooding from superstorms or for some aesthetic reason? Once the Ridge is gone, it might never be replenished, at least not in our lifetime. In the meantime, the bait will disappear and then their prey will too.

The sand on the Ridge must be easy to access and that's the main reason the Corps wants to mine it. In the entire ocean, is there no other source of sand? How about using the sand that has already been swept back off the already replenished areas? Is the bottom all mud all the way out to the Mud Hole?

Here's a novel idea.......how about digging out the sand and creating dredge holes like the ones in Raritan Bay and leaving the ridges alone? This will be an interesting event to watch as it unfolds.

[njdiver]

Check this out:

https://njbeaches.org/njdep_public_f...rcemap2012.pdf

[TomKaye]

I had to resurrect this post and copied & pasted below is a reply I got from my Congressman ::

Dear Mr. K:

Thank you for your email and for your kind words. I appreciate your sharing your concerns regarding the potential use of Manasquan Ridge for beach replenishment projects as someone interested in recreational fishing and related businesses.

Please know that I have shared your letter with the Army Corps of Engineers Philadelphia District Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Bliss, who oversees projects in this area.

Rest assured that I will share his response.

Again, thank you for contacting me.

Sincerely,

Rodney Frelinghuysen
Member of Congress

It took me no longer to e-mail my Congressman, than it does for many of us to post here or read various fishing reports. I'm not touting my action by any means. What I am suggesting is more of us contact our government officials when their stupid BS affects our fishing lifestyle that we love so much.
Our heirs will thank you for it, and Thank You NJDiver for bringing this to our community's attention.

Tight lines all,
Tom Kaye.