Protest by surfers, environmental groups

Activists say beach renourishment harms coastline, recreation

BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer

BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Surfers, divers, fishermen and environmental activists held a press conference on the Long Branch boardwalk Monday to protest large-scale beach replenishment projects which they say are detrimental to the coast. The protest coincided with the annual conference of the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association, a group that supports the projects. MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Surfers, divers, fishermen and environmental activists held a press conference on the Long Branch boardwalk Monday to protest large-scale beach replenishment projects which they say are detrimental to the coast. The protest coincided with the annual conference of the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association, a group that supports the projects. Area surfers and environmental activists gathered Monday at the Long Branch oceanfront to protest beach replenishment projects at the Jersey Shore they say are harming the coast.

The protest, by members of the Surfrider Foundation and the Surfers’ Environmental Alliance (SEA), took place on the boardwalk outside the Ocean Place Resort & Spa, where the annual conference of the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) was under way.

“We are the ocean-using public,” John Weber of the Surfrider Foundation said at the protest. “We are the beach-using public. I believe the ASBPA can embark on a new way of doing things [to replenish beaches].”

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Surfer Ric Anastasi of Beach Haven joined local beach activists on the Long Branch boardwalk Monday to protest beach replenishment projects.MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Surfer Ric Anastasi of Beach Haven joined local beach activists on the Long Branch boardwalk Monday to protest beach replenishment projects. Minutes into the protest, members of Surfrider and the SEA – the groups that organized the protest – accepted an invitation to sit in on an ASBPA board of directors meeting, according to Weber, East Coast regional manager for Surfrider.

At the board meeting, the ASBPA established a Partnering Committee to engage in dialogue with other environmental groups working to protect the nation’s coastal resources, according to a release distributed by ASBPA following the protest.

“It sounds good,” Weber said Monday about the newly formed committee. “My concern is it is just something to put out there to make it look as if [the ASBPA] is working with us.

“They have opened the doors to starting a discussion. I would like to see the ASBPA get on our side and help reform [beach replenishment] projects.”

Dozens of local activists representing surfing, fishing, diving, environmental and anti-eminent domain abuse groups joined in the protest, calling on the ASBPA to change beach fill projects, according to a press release from Surfrider.

Such changes call for using less sand or creating more gentle slopes at the water’s edge to reduce the impact on recreation, according to Weber.

“Our message [at the protest] is that the groups that favor these [beach replenishment] projects are developers, real estate companies and utility companies,” Weber said.

“They say properties are threatened by coastal erosion. But that is because we build too close to the ocean.”

ASBPA Executive Director Ken Gooderham said after the protest that the ASBPA is an advocacy group that lobbies for a continual flow of federal funds for beach replenishment.

“We invited some of the spokesmen from the protest to our board meeting,” Gooderham said, adding, “We wanted to give them a chance to express their position.

“In many ways, we are after the same thing,” he added.

Gooderham said the replenishment projects are a way to protect developments and properties on the coastlines.

Weber explained that possible alternatives to dredge-and-fill projects include sand bypass systems, which can be turned on and off as needed, as well as artificial reefs that break up wave energy and provide recreational habitat.

Bill Rosenblatt, Surfrider chairman and member of the foundation’s national board, said at the protest that he has seen only large-scale dredge-and-fill beach renourishment projects for the past decade on New Jersey shores.

“What has been the result?” he asked. “Look around you. Renourishment has led to unwise development,” he said as he pointed to the recently redeveloped Long Branch oceanfront.

miniums and more businesses built in the most vulnerable areas of the coastal zone.

“We’ve seen people’s homes taken away and demolished to make way for McMansions and residences for the rich,” Rosenblatt said.

A Long Branch resident agreed with Rosenblatt.

“Sand replenishment led to the abuse of eminent domain and therefore the legalized theft of people’s homes and businesses” said Denise Hoagland, a member of the MTOTSA alliance, who is fighting the taking of her oceanfront home for a redevelopment project.

“Before eminent domain abuse could be used along the oceanfront there had to be sand replenishment,” Hoagland said.

Hoagland told the crowd at the protest that beach renourishment has had a “domino effect” that has diminished underwater wildlife and reduced surf, making swimming, surfing and fishing impossible and “led the way to the seizure of private properties and businesses, which in turn resulted in pollution run-off from overdevelopment.”

The ASBPA hosted its national conference, “Enhancing Our Nation’s Coast Through Science, Technology and Education,” Oct. 9-11.

According to a press release, the conference attracted scientists, engineers and coastal experts from across the nation and globe to discuss the latest in shore and ocean protection strategies for the future.

According to Weber, current beach replenishment projects result in moving the water’s edge 200 to 300 feet seaward, which results in deep water very near the shore, making swimming dangerous and eliminating the potential for surfing.

Smaller and smarter replenishment projects would minimize the impact on recreation and make the beaches safer, Weber said.

Representatives of the New Jersey Chapter Sierra Club, the Jersey Coast Anglers Association, and the Council of Diving Clubs also spoke at the protest, as did a Maryland resident who has been confined to a wheelchair as a result of a beach accident.

“One vacation, one wave changed my life,” Josh Basile, a 20-year-old who was paralyzed by the shore-break on a Delaware beach, said at the protest.

“I was standing in waist-high water and a wave picked me up and smashed me on my head,” he said. “This injury occurs way more often than you think.”

According to a press release from the Surfrider Foundation, Basile’s personal injury is not tied directly to a replenishment project.

Basile began speaking out on beach projects when he learned that his type of injury can be caused by the steep slopes that result from renourishments projects, according to the release.

“They need to put up signs warning swimmers of the increased dangers of replenished beaches with steeper profiles,” Basile said. “A vacation should not include a trip to the hospital or a life-altering injury.”

Crystal Snedden of the Sierra Club said at the protest that a major reason for beach replenishment is that beachfront properties need to be protected from the incoming tides.

“When you build right on top of the water, you cannot claim that the ocean is encroaching on you,” she said. “In reality, overdevelopment is encroaching on our beaches.”

“We now have more houses, more condo to unwise development,” he said as he pointed to the recently redeveloped Long Branch oceanfront.

“We now have more houses, more condominiums and more businesses built in the most vulnerable areas of the coastal zone.

“We’ve seen people’s homes taken away and demolished to make way for McMansions and residences for the rich,” Rosenblatt said.

A Long Branch resident agreed with Rosenblatt.

“Sand replenishment led to the abuse of eminent domain and therefore the legalized theft of people’s homes and businesses” said Denise Hoagland, a member of the MTOTSA alliance, who is fighting the taking of her oceanfront home for a redevelopment project.

“Before eminent domain abuse could be used along the oceanfront there had to be sand replenishment,” Hoagland said.

Hoagland told the crowd at the protest that beach renourishment has had a “domino effect” that has diminished underwater wildlife and reduced surf, making swimming, surfing and fishing impossible and “led the way to the seizure of private properties and businesses, which in turn resulted in pollution run-off from overdevelopment.”

The ASBPA hosted its national conference, “Enhancing Our Nation’s Coast Through Science, Technology and Education,” Oct. 9-11.

According to a press release, the conference attracted scientists, engineers and coastal experts from across the nation and globe to discuss the latest in shore and ocean protection strategies for the future.

According to Weber, current beach replenishment projects result in moving the water’s edge 200 to 300 feet seaward, which results in deep water very near the shore, making swimming dangerous and eliminating the potential for surfing.

Smaller and smarter replenishment projects would minimize the impact on recreation and make the beaches safer, Weber said.

Representatives of the New Jersey Chapter Sierra Club, the Jersey Coast Anglers Association, and the Council of Diving Clubs also spoke at the protest, as did a Maryland resident who has been confined to a wheelchair as a result of a beach accident.

“One vacation, one wave changed my life,” Josh Basile, a 20-year-old who was paralyzed by the shore-break on a Delaware beach, said at the protest.

“I was standing in waist-high water and a wave picked me up and smashed me on my head,” he said. “This injury occurs way more often than you think.”

According to a press release from the Surfrider Foundation, Basile’s personal injury is not tied directly to a replenishment project.

Basile began speaking out on beach projects when he learned that his type of injury can be caused by the steep slopes that result from renourishments projects, according to the release.

“They need to put up signs warning swimmers of the increased dangers of replenished beaches with steeper profiles,” Basile said. “A vacation should not include a trip to the hospital or a life-altering injury.”

Crystal Snedden of the Sierra Club said at the protest that a major reason for beach replenishment is that beachfront properties need to be protected from the incoming tides.

“When you build right on top of the water, you cannot claim that the ocean is encroaching on you,” she said. “In reality, overdevelopment is encroaching on our beaches.”