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During the 15th Annual State of the Shore event in Long Branch Wednesday, Department of Environmental Protection [DEP] Commissioner Bob Martin returned high expectations for the upcoming tourism season.

“The beaches are in great shape and our water quality is excellent,” Martin said in a written statement. “When people come to the Jersey shore, a catalyst for our state’s $42 billion tourism economy, they can be assured that every effort is being made to ensure they have a safe and enjoyable visit.”

The New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium sponsored event is held every year prior to the Memorial Day weekend. Status reports are given on everything from water quality to the state of beaches and other coastal issues.

Working in coordination with the Cooperative Coastal Monitoring Program [CCMP], the DEP routinely tests water quality at the 180 ocean beaches and 35 bay and river beaches across the state. As a result, the state’s monitored ocean and bay beaches were open 99.9 percent of the time last year, ranking the state among the nation’s leaders in coastal water quality, officials said.

In addition to measuring for bacteria levels, coastal surveillance flights to investigate excessive algae blooms or debris that might affect water quality operate six days per week from mid-May to mid-September, weather permitting.

Last season, the only ocean beach closings occurred in the city of Cape May, when a beach at Pittsburgh Avenue was closed for several days due to an accidental spill into a storm drain caused by plumbing work at a hotel, officials said. In addition, bays or river beaches were closed just 10 times last year across the state.

Martin also said the administration is moving into its final stretch of completing the statewide system of engineered beaches and dunes to better protect coastal communities. Administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Philadelphia District, the beach replenishment initiative began after Superstorm Sandy ravaged the area in October 2012. A total of seven major projects were approved by Congress through what is commonly known as the Sandy Appropriations Bill.

They include a $128 million appropriation for work to begin in the northern Ocean County’s Barnegat Peninsula, which will commence in the Ortley Beach section of Toms River, one of the hardest-hit communities in the state. The other will be along the 8 miles of Atlantic County’s Absecon Island at a cost of $63 million.

“These projects are critical to the protection of lives, property, and infrastructure, and mark the culmination of a historic achievement,” Martin said. “When these projects are completed, New Jersey will for the first time have a statewide system of beaches and dunes that meet the Army Corps’ high standards for protection.”

Officials said pumping of sand will only occur along 1,000-foot sections of beach at a time to minimize the impact to residents and visitors. Each section takes about a week to complete.

For up-to-date information on all water sampling, alerts, and any coastal incidents, visit, njbeaches.org.

To follow the flight path of the coastal surveillance plane, visit, njdep.rutgers.edu/aircraft.

For more information on the Army Corps of Engineer projects, visit, nap.usace.army.mil.

And for more information on the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium, visit, wnjseagrant.org.

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