Marine Life / Wildlife & Habitat

Fishermen have plied the coastal waters of New Jersey since colonial times. Commercial fishing and recreational angling continue to be an important part of New Jersey’s culture, character, and economy. In 2004, 1400 commercial fishermen received permits or licenses to fish in state waters, and an estimated 1.3 million recreational anglers visited New Jersey’s marine waters to try their luck.

In 2003, over 170 million pounds of seafood was landed at New Jersey’s six thriving commercial ports: Cape May, Atlantic City, Belford, Point Pleasant, Port Norris and Barnegat Light. Recreational and commercial fishing revenues generate about $2 billion per year.

However, the picture is far from rosy. Commercial and recreational fisheries across the United States struggle with poor management, overfishing, pollution, habitat loss and invasive species. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) reports that of the nation’s 267 major fish stocks (accounting for 99 percent of landings), roughly 20 percent are either already overfished, experiencing overfishing, or approaching an overfished condition. And New Jersey is in the same boat. The state’s fisheries are plagued with outdated management objectives, unregulated bycatch, disregarded scientific information, unbalanced representation on management bodies, and contaminated seafood.

Power plants kill billions of fish annually, as well as sea turtles and other marine life, when using the outdated technology of a once-through cooling system. The once-through cooling design takes water on a daily basis from the adjacent river or bay to cool reactors then discharges the hot water. This is especially of concern at the Oyster Creek Power Plant on Barnegat Bay and the Salem Nuclear Power Plant on the Delaware Bay, where the plants draw 1.2 billion and three billion gallons of water, respectively, each day.