Monitoring Shark River’s Beaches

Recently, Memorial Day marked the start of beach season in NJ. Now in June as Spring turns to Summer, the weather is warming and members of our communities are increasingly enjoying many recreation activities in and around Shark River.

To ensure the health and safety of the communities who enjoy the water, Local Health Departments and the NJ DEP monitor two public access sites in Shark River, as part of the the New Jersey Cooperative Coastal Monitoring Program & NJ DEP Environmental Coastal Monitoring (ECM).

L Street in Belmar a regulated Public Recreational Bathing Beach, and also an access point for boating. From mid-May to Mid September, Local Health Departments test the water weekly. The New Jersey State Sanitary Code’s water quality standard for bathing beaches is determined by the concentration of the indicator bacteria, enterococci. The standard requires that the concentration of bacteria not exceed 104 colonies of Enterococci bacteria per 100 milliliters of sample. Results in excess of the standard may indicate a pollutant impact to bathing waters, and could result in either an advisory or even a beach closing. To learn more and view both testing results and advisories, visit https://njbeaches.org/.

Note: Nearby Maclearie Park also has an access point for scuba diving.

Memorial Park in Neptune City , a primary recreation site where the public can enjoy the beach, and can access the water to either wade or launch boats. While it is not a regulated public swimming beach, in recognition that the public uses sites like these the DEP created an Environmental Coastal Monitoring (ECM) program to assess water quality using the same testing methods as for the swimming beaches. To learn more and view monitoring data, visit NJ DEP Environmental Coastal Monitoring (ECM) .