Dan Radel

@DanielRadelAPP

NEPTUNE – Is Shark River dying a slow death?

Residents, town administration and the governing body are pointing to the May 12 fish kill as just another indication of the poor state of this body of water. They are urging cooperation from state, county and local entities to dredge the river now, at a potential cost of $5 million, to save the waterway and preserve the quality of life here.

“We’ve seen the effects from Sandy. We’ve seen the effects from fish kills. We’ve seen the effects of moon tides. We’re all feeling the pain from this river,” Chief Financial Officer Michael Bascom told residents of the town’s Shark River Hills section at a property owners meeting Tuesday. Bascom also is the township’s Economic Development Director and Emergency Management Coordinator.

He said the fish kill — which, according to state estimates reached a scale of over a half million pounds of dead fish — has made the need to dredge here even more urgent.

“If the river had been deeper, there would have been water in the river,” Bascom said. “Maybe it would have avoided killing millions of fish.”

Last year, Monmouth County Board of Freeholders Director Joseph Arnone said dredging the river’s channels could cost as much as $5 million.

There is roughly 100,000 cubic yards of sediment choking the river’s channels.

“The river is horrible at low tide. You kick up mud and it’s a hazard for your boat props,” said Capt. Charles Martino, who docks his 27-foot Albemarle fishing boat in Shark River.

State spokesman Bob Considine said the Department of Environmental Protection is the permitting branch for these types of projects but the state’s Department of Transportation is the lead agency on dredging in state navigational channels in the river.

Considine said the recent fish kill was not related to the depth of the Shark River.

“Fish kills do happen in all kinds of water levels. That’s not to say the Shark River isn’t in need of dredging. But this was simply about an amazing amount of fish coming through the inlet and not having enough oxygen to collectively survive.”

But A. Bruce Pyle of Wall, a retired chief of the Bureau of Fisheries in the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, said Shark River has so little water outside of its channels that it becomes a trap for large fish during low tide.

“If the river was dredged until it could contain a considerable amount of water at low tide they (the fish) would not have died,” Pyle said.

Residents say they have more reasons than fish to want the river dredged.

“The high tides are coming farther up the bank and onto the road,” said Richard Colasurdo, a resident on South Riverside Drive on the river.

“When Sandy came, I had two feet of water in my garage. I lost a car.”

The mud flats continue to encroach, he said, and Sandy only poured more silt into the river.

“We’ve been trying to get this done for 17 years,” Township Committeeman Randy Bishop said.

“We are doing a preliminary study for sites to dry the silt. Maybe we can use multiple small sites.”

Bascom said state funding is in place to dredge the river.

“It’s just that remaining issue of finding a place to dry the material,” Bascom said.

Township officials have proposed using sediment to build living shorelines where it is acceptable, but drying sites still are needed.

Building shorelines out too much could drastically reduce water levels in the river, Bascom said. According to Bascom, the sediment has been tested and not found to be toxic.

Officials have an application with the Army Corps of Engineers for the living shorelines and a meeting with stakeholders in a week to further discuss dredging.

Five towns — Avon, Belmar, Neptune, Neptune City and Wall — have boundaries on the river.

“We need this to happen and we need this to happen now,” said Stephanie Seyr, president of the Shark River Hills Property Owners Association.

Dan Radel:

732-643-4072; dradel@app.com