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December 7, 2007
Asbury Park Press

Too many boaters grounded awaiting dredging plan

By STEVE TAYLOR

Marinas throughout New Jersey are finding it increasingly difficult to successfully manage their businesses and support the thousands of Jersey boaters. The siltation of marinas and navigation channels and the costly dredging activities are hurting the economic viability of this important industry. Dredging and dredged material disposal options are severely limited and costs associated with disposal continue to rise.

The state Department of Transportation's Office of Maritime Resources has funded development of a Dredged Material Management Plan for the Bayshore region of Monmouth County. The goal of the plan is to ensure the viability of the recreational and commercial boating industry in Raritan and Sandy Hook Bays. The plan's objectives are to identify dredging needs, articulate options for beneficial use of dredged material and propose solutions for a coordinated dredged material management system for the communities along the Bayshore.

Marine activities in six out of the seven Bayshore municipalities in Monmouth County depend on regular dredging of navigation channels, marina basins and slips. Currently, each municipality or marina manages dredging on an individual basis, resulting in costly, onerous and time-consuming efforts. Waterfront communities and marinas in the Bayshore region do not have a systematic method for managing dredging activities or a course of action for better management of dredged material. Current dredging practices are unsustainable as disposal facilities reach storage capacity, and beneficial use options have not been fully explored for the area.

Nearshore regions of Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook Bay do not have naturally deep channels. Therefore, navigation channels and marinas must be periodically dredged to maintain authorized depths for recreational and commercial boating activities.
The majority of municipalities and small marinas discharge their dredged material inside a Confined Disposal Facility site. Existing CDF sites are filling to capacity, and silted channels are badly in need of additional dredging.

A Dredged Material Management Plan will be developed for the Bayshore Region of Monmouth County. The DMMP will provide Highlands, Atlantic Highlands, Middletown, Union Beach, Keansburg, Keyport and Aberdeen with a comprehensive plan to properly plan and manage dredged material in their communities. Municipal involvement and community interest is vital to the success of the plan.

Without citizen input and buy-in, the plan may end up on an office shelf as opposed to being a guiding document for marina managers and municipal administrators. A public meeting to discuss the plan will begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Henry Hudson Activity Center, 945 Route 36 W., Leonardo section of Middletown. The public and municipal officials are encouraged to attend.

The plan will require investigation into the current volume of material associated with maintenance dredging, storage capacity limitations, and operational and management issues associated with boating and navigation. The plan will identify
environmentally sound alternatives for dredged material use, costs associated with different types of dredging, savings associated with municipal coordination, different methods for beneficial reuse and pertinent regulatory requirements - federal, state and local - associated with dredged material management.

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