Mud Buoy

[Billfish715]

Incredibly low tide in Shark River. If that green marker is someone's waypoint or if it's on a GPS chart, you're in trouble. If the river area is not dredged, the flounder will like the shallow water this spring because it will warm up very quickly. The boaters, on the other hand might have some problems getting back to their docks.

[NoLimit]

What a mess. It seems like the problems at SR are never ending.

[hammer4reel]

Those pics should be sent to the governors office so they don't pay the dredging company a dime

[Billfish715]

So, should anyone with a Shark River navigational chart now get a new one? Imagine coming out from the back channel and seeing that green marker which is supposed to be on the edge of the deep water only to find that it is quite a distance onto the flats. Can you say ruined lower unit? Can you say hitting the mud and being thrown overboard?

If you run your boat out of the back of Shark River, be very, very careful.......or look for a new marina. The sad thing is that no one will "man up" for the condition of the river channel and no one will take responsibility when someone has an accident there.

Only the seagulls are loving the mud, based on the numbers of clams and mussels they are dropping on the parking areas and docks to crack open.

Whoever is overseeing this project, DOT or otherwise, should have someone over seeing every phase. Feels like it's been a cluster from day one with delays. Sending pictures to the appropriate agency is a good idea to serve notice. If anyone has property damage (lower unit) or God forbid gets hurt or killed being thrown overboard, I'd sue the dredge company and whoever was responsible for work being done. If the project is completed and this is the extent of the reparation, someone needs to be sued. Aside from the inconvenience it creates, this is an enormous safety hazard which truthfully appears to have gotten worse as a result of the work performed.

Is there anyone close enough to the area or familiar enough with the project who might know which Agency Federal or State is responsible for the project? Will definitely send the pictures posted and write a scathing email putting them on notice.

[CaptMarc]

I don't know what kind of equipment they used, but if you go to Manasquan River, the equipment is larger a pushing lots of sediment out. Not that it helps now but they are supposedly putting in new markers soon. I agree with everything said. I went out while they were dredging that stretch. Went out by the points I had, no problem going out but couldn't replicate the channel coming back. I think they need to get back over there now. They are in front of Shark River Municipal now.

[Billfish715]

There are many times when we have had to adjust our return to the dock based on the amount of water in our slip at low tide. I can understand the low water situation in a slip but not in a well-traveled channel. I was hoping that stretch north of the gas docks would have been dredged and widened. The municipal marina isn't affected but the rest of the marinas in the back are getting the short end.

If the CG moves that green marker closer to the deeper water, it will show just how narrow that channel has become. If there was a market for all of that sediment, that river and it's mudflats would be a gold mine.

[Capt. Debbie]

It would be great if you could. But charts are snap shots from a certain past date.

Also most charts do not list channel depths like outside the channel. Many just list a comment on typical law water channel depth.

I used to run out of Shark River Hills marina when it was a Chris Craft dealer run by the Oliver family. It sucked back in the 1990's too. Even their docks back there have little water and you have to hug the T head of the dock because 20 yards off the T head you will run aground.

Compound that with a 5-6 foot tidal drop on fixed docks. A very problemed place to boat from.

Originally Posted by Billfish715

So, should anyone with a Shark River navigational chart now get a new one? .

[bartman27]

hello all - my boat is in the bay at the end of the north cut - it is an older single screw 34 foot boat. i use the bay and those channels all year round. last year during dead low there was not enough water in the channel for me to pass and i did run around by that green marker and was stuck for an hour - the channel is now about 2 feet deeper - not much at all and how long it will last has yet to be seen - i was just there today and the dredging company is removing all its equipment from the belmar marina parking lot - they have a big crane and they are lifting it - in my opinion a HUGE amount of money was spent for almost nothing!!! to be honest the only ones who benefited are the dredging company employees who always seem to be around with their hard hats on talking on their phones - they did have a small dredge out there for a couple months but the channel is not in anyway greatly improved - it seems this has been an uphill battle from the start - there is a limited time that the dredging can be done due to the winter flounder, the towns dont want the stuff stored or trucked through them - the operation needed to really make this better would have to be bigger, bigger equipment and more of it. I have been told even the mud they were pumping could not be compressed properly - at least i now have a little more water in the channel i travel thru - the people in the very back of the bay have gotten no improvement at all - This is a real example of how nothing can be done correctly in NJ because to many rules, regulations, people who dont want the project because they dont make enough money from it and to do it right would cost a lot more - Manasquan equipment is much bigger and better, and that is not surprising if you think about it - i remember when they had that meeting in front of the Neptune Marina in the parking lot - all the newspaper people were there covering the story, they even set up chairs - where r they now? - no where to be found because the politics i am sure are not correct....

[Billfish715]

Here is a response that I received from the Shark River Cleanup Coalition.
There are also two links for those of you who want to contact the state division of coastal engineering about conditions where you do your boating. There is also a link to the permit application for the project. The last time a dredging permit was apparently applied for was 1982!

Good morning Bill

We are awaiting a response back from the DOT.

I had asked some of your same questions last weekend.
So far they told me that they will be getting the after dredged survey report
and that the channel markers would be back in place around the end of February.

Thanks for sending the pictures that show the permanent markers fully exposed.
I will be staying on top of this and will get back to you
Thanks

John F. Dempsey


Save Shark River
Division of Shark River Cleanup Coalition


http://www.nj.gov/dep/shoreprotection/dredging.htm

http://www.nj.gov/dep/shoreprotection/aids.htm

http://sharkriver.org/wp-content/upl...2015Update.pdf