State provides grant to study surfing reef feasibility in New Jersey
As part of a plan to protect and restore beaches along the coast of New Jersey, Bradley M. Campbell, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection, announced a $40,000 grant Wednesday to study the feasibility of building a surfing reef in state waters.
The grant, called Making Waves, aims to protect the shore as well as provide a more structured ocean for surfers. A surfing reef is different from other manmade underwater structures in that it is designed with surfers in mind, giving them better waves to ride to the shore.
Brian Unger, spokesman for the Surfriders' Environmental Alliance, said a surfing reef does more than offer board riders a clean wave to ride. "By getting the waves to break farther out," he said, "there's less beach erosion."
Fish also congregate around these structures, Unger said. "Old piers, sunken boats and reefs," he said. "Bait goes to the reef to hide, spawn or rest, and the fish follow."
The question that lingers is where along the state's coast a surfing reef could be constructed. Unger said his organization and the Surfrider Foundation of New Jersey will use the grant money to hire an engineering firm to develop a proposal for the reef.
"We've been researching this for more than a year," Unger said. "We have an idea of the top firms already."
Though the top firms are known, Unger said no site - from northern to southern tips - had been ruled out.
Unger did say that the reef, if constructed, would be off the coast of a major recreational area in the state. No timetable has been set for the possible construction of a reef.
For more information visit the SEA Web site.
By David Benson Staff Writer
Source: PressofAtlanticCity.com
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