Stories from the Bay |
Like all ecosystems, Delaware Bay is amazingly complex, and there’s no one way to fix it. Between climate change, sea level rise, and the growing risk of major storms, there’s a lot to consider.
We've learned that restoring healthy marsh habitat is a key component in rebuilding Delaware Bay beaches; however, we’re also trying to further strengthen bayshore beaches by building reefs – living underwater infrastructure. By creating some reef structures we can keep the sand where we’re putting it. Learn more about strengthening New Jersey's Hidden Coast - the Delaware Bayshore in our fifth episode to our series. A new episode of our video series “New Jersey’s Hidden Coast” will air every two weeks throughout the summer! Catch a glimpse of the bay, the horseshoe crab at the center of the bay’s system, and the incredible relationship between horseshoe crabs and migratory birds, like the red knot. We will reveal the real value of horseshoe crabs, the challenges to the ecosystem, and the potential for a thriving regional economy along the Bayshore. We will show Hurricane Sandy as a catalyst for decisive action and the work being done to rebuild the area for both people and wildlife. Over the next several weeks, we will explore the use of “living shorelines” instead of bulkheads and the central importance of marshes to the marine ecosystem. We will discover the on-the-ground, grassroots efforts of the community to build oyster reefs alongside veterans. And we will examine the future of the Bay and the work that needs to be done to preserve our conservation successes thus far.
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Periodic storms are an unavoidable fact of life when you live along the coast. In rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy, we realized we needed a new way of thinking about beach restoration on New Jersey's Hidden Coast - the Delaware Bayshore. Storms like Sandy and Katrina have shown us that the most effective way to control storm surge is to follow Mother Nature’s lead. The restoration of tidal wetlands, or marshes, will help absorb the brunt of coastal storms, acting as a buffer between the beaches and the mainland.
Learn more about marsh restoration - one of the key components to rebuilding coastal beaches - in the fourth episode of our video series. A new episode of our video series "New Jersey's Hidden Coast" will air every two weeks throughout the summer! Catch a glimpse of the bay, the horseshoe crab at the center of the bay's system, and the incredible relationship between horseshoe crabs and migratory birds, like the red knot. We will reveal the real value of horseshoe crabs, the challenges to the ecosystem, and the potential for a thriving regional economy along the Bayshore. We will show Hurricane Sandy as a catalyst for decisive action and the work being done to rebuild the area for both people and wildlife. Over the next several weeks, we will explore the use of "living shorelines" instead of bulkheads and the central importance of marshes to the marine ecosystem. We will discover the on-the-ground, grassroots efforts of the community to build oyster reefs alongside veterans. And we will examine the future of the Bay and the work that needs to be done to preserve our conservation successes thus far. By: Zach Nickerson, Education Outreach Coordinator, American Littoral Society On June 27th we brought two groups of kids, from Cumberland County College Summer Academy for Kids and from Children’s Country Place in Seaville, to the oyster reef at Reeds Beach in order to learn about our habitat restoration projects. In the morning, during low tide when the reef was visible, about 20 students from Summer Academy for Kids came down to do some biological sampling of the reef to see what creatures are living in it. We were able to identify mud dog whelks, striped anemones, black fingered crabs, red line worms, arthropods, bryozoan, mussels, and of course oysters. Then we went on a beachcombing walk to see what else we could find and to talk about beach erosion, the beach replenishment that the Littoral Society had done there in the past, and how we hoped that the reef would protect from future erosion. Finally, we used the seine nets to catch silversides, mummichogs, blue claw crabs, and even a few horseshoe crabs. Later on in the afternoon, closer to high tide, 25 kids from Children’s Country Place came to learn about the horseshoe crabs. We found a live horseshoe crab and talked about its anatomy and its relationship to migratory shorebirds and humans. After another beachcombing walk to talk about the Littoral Society’s work with these amazing arthropods, the older kids broke off to practice our horseshoe crab surveying technique while the younger kids dug in the sand to try and find their eggs. Not only did they successfully find eggs, but we were able to look through the magnifying glass and see the tiny baby crabs growing inside! |
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