---

[Correction: The Asbury Park Fishing Club Carp Fishing Contest will held from 6 a.m. to noon April 17.]

Now that the $1.6 million dredging project is complete, The Deal Lake Commission focuses its immediate attention on its Spring Cleanup.

This year, the Spring Cleanup will begin at 9 a.m. March 19 from the Asbury Park Boat Ramp, on Main Street next to the 7-11 Convenience Store.

The nonprofit organization is hoping for a record turn out to help ready the lake for the summer season when boaters, kayakers and paddle boarders use the lake for recreation.

Close to 13,000 cubic yards of material was removed from six acres of the easternmost portion of the lake between the Norwood Avenue Bridge and the Ocean, said Deal Lake Commission Chairman Don Brockel. The area was dredged to a 4 to 6 foot depth.

Funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service [NRCS] $1.5 million grant in partnership with the state a Department of Environmental Protection [DEP] $154,000 matching funds, the project was part of the effort to remove Superstorm Sandy debris.

Brockel said contractor Tri State Dredging of Philadelphia will return later this spring to complete some minor repairs and grass planting.

“We thank the DEP and the NRCS for their efforts on making this first small step in restoring Deal Lake,” Brockel said.

Also important to the maintaining the lake is the annual Asbury Park Fishing Club Carp Fishing Contest, being held this year from 6 a.m. to noon April 17.

“Carp is an invasive species,” Brockel said. “We don’t mind a few of them but we really are trying to get most of them out of the lake.”

The Deal Lake Commission continues to work to acquire grants to help with its restoration efforts of the 158-acre man-made lake that spans 27 miles through Allenhurst, Asbury Park, Deal, Ingerlaken, Loch Arbour, Neptune and Ocean townships.

“We have two projects being worked out with State DEP, two with the County and one grant submission with NOAA.”

Among its initiatives will be to seek grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for more Superstorm Sandy debris removal and a Flood Hazard Risk Reduction Resiliency grant to help with its storm surge maintenance efforts.

“We are working to create a storm surge shut down that will keep the ocean waters at bay during strong storms and hurricanes,” Brockel said. “We need a system that keeps the storm waters out of the lake but allows the water to flow out.”

Brockel said they will look to place storm scepters at critical locations where storm water runoff from streets is a problem.

“We’ll use different funding sources for this,” Brockel said. “It’s our best way of getting the most bang for the buck.”

For more information about the Deal Lake Commission, visit its website or Facebook page.

————————————————————–

Follow the Asbury Park Sun on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The Asbury Park Sun is affiliated with the triCityNews newspaper.

---