Shark River Inlet Sand By-Passing Project

The by-passing of sand across Shark River Inlet on the New Jersey Coast appears to be an effective method of nourishing and restoring a starved beach at the down-drift side of the Inlet. The by-passing operation, which was undertaken as a full scale experiment, is considered successful because: 1. The sand by-passed across the Inlet is coarser, better graded, and has made a beach fill that is more stable than beach fills made elsewhere on the New Jersey Coast with fine sands such as might have been obtained by dredging in Shark River. 2. The by-passed sand makes a more attractive beach than sands usually obtained by dredging in inland waters inasmuch as it is freer of objectionable shell fragments, clay balls, and silt. 3. Sand obtained from the accretion at the up-drift side of the Inlet has proved cheaper than sands obtained from other sources when comparative costs are based on the unit price of sand that stays in place on the beach. 4. The removal of the excess accretion at the up-drift side of the Inlet is benefiting the community facing the up-drift beach in three ways: It restores to utility much of the length of a “fishing pier” which was being made useless by the development of dry beach under it; the reduction of the beach berm to an optimum width of from 100 ft to 200 ft has been found desirable; and it is anticipated that the removal of the excess accretion will facilitate the maintenance of the navigation channel of Shark River Inlet.