{"id":20467,"date":"2022-08-18T02:03:13","date_gmt":"2022-08-18T06:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/?p=20467"},"modified":"2022-08-18T03:08:15","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T07:08:15","slug":"major-shoaling-at-manasquan-inlet-prompts-surveyors-to-arrive-next-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2022\/08\/major-shoaling-at-manasquan-inlet-prompts-surveyors-to-arrive-next-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Major Shoaling at Manasquan Inlet Prompts Surveyors to Arrive Next Week"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"v-tS59A6k4-1\" class=\"video-player\"><iframe title='VideoPress Video Player' aria-label='VideoPress Video Player' width='1000' height='562' src='https:\/\/videopress.com\/embed\/tS59A6k4?hd=1&cover=1&loop=0&autoPlay=0&permalink=1&muted=0&controls=1&playsinline=0&useAverageColor=0&preloadContent=metadata' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen data-resize-to-parent=\"true\" allow='clipboard-write'><\/iframe><script src='https:\/\/s0.wp.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/video\/assets\/js\/next\/videopress-iframe.js'><\/script><\/div>\n<p>Ever think of setting up your beach chair <em>in<\/em> the inlet?<\/p>\n<p>The idea isn\u2019t so far-fetched lately, and it hasn\u2019t been completely unheard-of to see chairs, blankets and anglers\u2019 sand spikes literally plopped over the side of the south jetty of Manasquan Inlet which, under normal conditions, would be covered by feet of water.<\/p>\n<p>Shoaling occurs naturally at Manasquan Inlet, leading the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to schedule periodic dredging, usually performed by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nao.usace.army.mil\/Media\/News-Stories\/Article\/489135\/dredge-currituck-the-little-corps-vessel-with-a-huge-maritime-mission\/\"><em>Currituck<\/em><\/a>, a unique hopper dredge that traverses the east coast of the United States and Caribbean keeping inlets clear of sand. This year, however, the shoaling occurred at a particularly rapid pace, leading to visible sand bars in the inlet itself. At the center of the inlet\u2019s navigational channel, depths have dropped to 8-feet at times, shy of the 12-foot depth marked on charts and required for some of the larger vessels in the commercial fishing fleet.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that, following a request by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4), the Army Corps will be dispatching a survey team to the inlet to scope the waterway for potential emergency maintenance next week.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20470\" style=\"width: 1010px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/manasquan_inlet_shoaling_465-scaled.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20470\" class=\"size-large wp-image-20470\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/manasquan_inlet_shoaling_465-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Shoaling at Manasquan Inlet, Aug. 17, 2022. (Photo: Daniel Nee)\" width=\"1000\" height=\"667\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/manasquan_inlet_shoaling_465-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/manasquan_inlet_shoaling_465-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/manasquan_inlet_shoaling_465-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/manasquan_inlet_shoaling_465-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/manasquan_inlet_shoaling_465-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-20470\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shoaling at Manasquan Inlet, Aug. 17, 2022. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe Corps\u2019 new survey now scheduled for next week will help them better evaluate the most recent developments and any action that must be taken for the safety of commercial and recreational boaters on the inlet,\u201d said Rep. Smith. \u201cWe appreciate their response.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the sand bar that is visible at low tide, Smith urged Lt. Col. Ramon Brigantti of the Philadelphia District of the Army Corps of Engineers to have his team study the channel depth throughout the inlet, noting that if the matter continues to escalate, larger vessels \u2014 including the commercial fishing fleet \u2014 may experience groundings. The bar along the south jetty has also created hazards for smaller boats in the form of waves breaking in unusual positions and swells developing inside the inlet to a larger degree than normal.<\/p>\n<p>After alerting the Corps to the problem last week via letter, Smith held a telephone conference on Monday with the Corps\u2019 top engineer as well as Capt. Howard Bogan of the fishing vessel Jamaica from the docks of Bogan\u2019s Basin in Brielle. Local officials from Point Pleasant Beach also shared their concerns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNobody knows these waters better than the veterans of our local fishing community, so it was important to have Captain Howard Bogan on the phone to share his first-hand knowledge and experience of sailing through the channel in the last two weeks,\u201d Smith said. \u201cHis expertise and insights helped illustrate the need to survey the inlet to see exactly where the shallow spots lie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As expressed in the congressman\u2019s letter, the sand bar is becoming dangerous to all vessels during times of foul weather. Under fair weather conditions, boats can steer clear of the sand bar, but with a 25-knot wind pushing them around, it is expected to be very dangerous \u2014 especially if the bar continues to grow at its current rate. As hurricane season approaches its peak during the busy summer boating season and fall nor\u2019easters are around the corner in time for the equally-busy striped bass season, vessels traveling too close to the jetty could find themselves pushed onto the bar and up against the rocks.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20469\" style=\"width: 1010px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/manasquan_inlet_shoaling_466-scaled.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-1\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20469\" class=\"size-large wp-image-20469\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/manasquan_inlet_shoaling_466-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Shoaling at Manasquan Inlet, Aug. 17, 2022. (Photo: Daniel Nee)\" width=\"1000\" height=\"667\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/manasquan_inlet_shoaling_466-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/manasquan_inlet_shoaling_466-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/manasquan_inlet_shoaling_466-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/manasquan_inlet_shoaling_466-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/manasquan_inlet_shoaling_466-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-20469\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shoaling at Manasquan Inlet, Aug. 17, 2022. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Officials in Point Pleasant Beach have also expressed concern over the inclination for people to jump down from the rocks to the sandy area. A wave, they said, could easily take a person into the inlet and potentially in the path of oncoming vessel traffic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Army Corps of Engineers is the federal government\u2019s master builders, and nobody does it better than the Corps,\u201d Smith added. \u201cWe appreciate their response and new survey of the inlet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The inlet is generally considered more accessible than Barnegat Inlet or the oft-treacherous Little Egg Inlet, however shoaling has been a more frequent problem in recent years. The inlet famously closed about 85 years ago, but was reopened through the work of both local officials and the Corps at the time. The reopening ultimately led to the construction of the improved jetties that remain today, the rocks for which were excavated from below Manhattan during tunnel boring for the 2nd Avenue subway.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fcbkbttn_buttons_block\" id=\"fcbkbttn_left\"><div class=\"fb-share-button fcbkbttn_large_button \" data-href=\"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2022\/08\/major-shoaling-at-manasquan-inlet-prompts-surveyors-to-arrive-next-week\/\" data-type=\"button_count\" data-size=\"large\"><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ever think of setting up your beach chair in the inlet? The idea isn\u2019t so far-fetched lately, and it hasn\u2019t been completely unheard-of to see chairs, blankets and anglers\u2019 sand spikes literally plopped over the side of the south jetty of Manasquan Inlet which, under normal conditions, would be covered by feet of water. Shoaling [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[4484,256,16,4752,4753,4754],"class_list":["post-20467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boating-fishing","tag-featured","tag-manasquan-inlet","tag-point-pleasant-beach","tag-sandbar","tag-shoal","tag-shoaling","post_format-post-format-video"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/manasquan_inlet_shoaling_465-scaled.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgt2Ft-5k7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}