Barnegat Bay in dire straits: New Jersey must do more to help
The stinging sea nettles in Barnegat Bay got so bad five years ago that Paul Krauss sold his 23-foot deride boat, the focal point of summer visits with his grandchildren, because of the vicious stings his passengers got when they tried to swim.
Scientists such as Jim Vasslides, of the nonprofit environmental batch Barnegat Bay Partnership, have theories about why these jellyfish are so abundant, so they’re studying the problem, trying to semblance out exactly why some areas of the bay are worse than others.
The nettles are the most visible symptom of a serious problem in Barnegat Bay, a vast trunk of water in Ocean County that once primed an economy and a way of life now virtually extinct in New Jersey because of the bay’s deliberate death.
In meeting after meeting on the topic, environmentalists and scientists have identified four main issues massacre the bay: nitrogen loading from fertilizers, antiquated storm water systems, overdevelopment, and water intake and accomplishment from the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station.
At the extreme fell of the boating season, he spent at least five days a week prowling around on the bay on his 25-foot SeaVee boat looking for boaters — uncommonly operators of personal watercraft — who are breaking the rules of the waterway.
