US Army Corp of Engineers New Jersey Borrow Areas Information Session
The US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) held a virtual meeting on March 5, 2025, to discuss potential sand borrow areas in the Atlantic Ocean off of Monmouth County from which to excavate sand for their Sea Bright to Manasquan Coast Storm Risk Management Project (Beach Replenishment) for which they are “authorized” to continue until 2049. I do not believe that this meeting was publicly advertised. I was only made aware of this meeting by John Toth who was advised of it by the USACE because of past communication with them regarding a previous project. There were approximately 20 people on the meeting, not counting USACE personnel. The USACE stated that the purpose of the meeting was to identify to “stakeholders” several potential sand borrow sites that the USACE could use to obtain suitable to allow them to continue their cycle of beach replenishment projects between Manasquan and Sea Bright until 2049. They explained that the Sea Bright Offshore Borrow Area that they are currently using for sand, is almost exhausted of the proper grain size sand. The sand that is left is either too fine or too coarse. The USACE has identified several potential sand borrow sites, as shown on the attached figure. These sites have to be tested to determine if they contain the proper grain size sand. The USACE intends to begin testing at these sites to determine their suitability for use and begin drawing sand from them by October 2026.
The obvious concern here for JCAA member club members is the impact to recreational fishing, especially for those that fish out of Shark River and Manasquan Inlets.
Opening up the meeting to questions and comments from the public saw a meeting participant, a commercial fisherman, state that several of the areas are adjacent to known fishing areas. The USACE acknowledged this and posted another figure showing the potential sand borrow areas with “Known Fishing Areas” overlayed on the figure. The potential sand borrow areas are indeed adjacent to and very close to, and in some cases surrounding the known fishing areas. I requested that this figure be provided to me so I could include it with this article but, as of this date, have not received it from the USACE. After several additional questions, along these same lines, the USACE stated that questions and comments on the meeting can be formally submitted to them by email to Jason Shea at jason.a.shea@usace.army.mil.
I sent the following questions to the USACE:
- Was the Information Session publicly advertised, and if so, how?
- Can you please provide a copy pf the diagram map on Page 6 that shows the Proposed Sand Borrow Sites together with the Known Fishing Areas?
- Where was the information used to show the Known Fishing Areas obtained from and is it current? Some of the proposed sand borrow areas are immediately adjacent to these known fishing areas. Will a buffer zone be provided? Sand mining in areas immediately adjacent to known fishing areas will negatively impact fishing in these areas.
- Since the USACE intends to continue the cycle of sand replenishment on the beaches between Manasquan and Sea Bright until at least 2049, has there been any investigation into other ways to mitigate sand loss from major storms? Additionally, the USACE ongoing project of sand replenishment results in excess sand being deposited at the northern tip of Sandy Hook and into Sandy Hook Channel. Every year, usually starting in September, this area must be dredged to maintain the navigational channel. This is at the start of prime fishing season and requires access to this portion of Sandy Hook to be closed to fisherman. Can any of this excess sand that must be dredged from the tip of Sandy Hook and the navigational channel be re-used for beach replenishment?
I have not received a response from the USACE as of this date, nor the diagram that I requested. We need to keep monitoring this project. All of the towns between Manasquan and Sea Bright want beach replenishment to continue, but it needs to be performed in a responsible manner that does not negatively impact the interests and activities of others, specifically recreational fisherman.