State of the Barnegat Bay 

The State of the Bay Report

Every 5 years, the Barnegat Bay Partnership publishes a State of the Bay Report, taking a deep dive into environmental indicators that provide insight into the status and trend of the estuary's health.

The State of the Bay Report – 2021 examines measurable characteristics (e.g., dissolved oxygen, water withdrawals, shellfish bed closures) that are used to observe changes in the bay over time. Helpful figures, maps, and other graphics illustrate the text, and stunning photographs show the beauty of our bay and its watershed. For the first time, the BBP’s State of the Bay Report is also available in a Spanish-language version.
Read the 2021 State of the Bay Report
State of the Bay 2021 Report Cover

Meeting Ecosystem Based Targets

The 2021 State of the Bay Report presents the current environmental conditions of the Barnegat Bay and its watershed, and compares current conditions with Ecosystem-Based Targets identified during the development of the 2021 Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan.
state of the bay sotb tracks
In this report, eight holistic ecosystem targets are used to describe the overall physical, chemical, and biotic conditions of the Barnegat Bay using recent and ongoing research by academic, government, and private sector scientists and engineers.
Targets Achieved
The number of Public Beach Closures due to bacteria and other pathogens continued to decline through the study period (2016-2020) and is below the target threshold of 75 days.

In progress
Based on the most recent data available (2011/2012) 60% of our Clam Restoration target of 377 million clams was achieved. While encouraging, the lack of recent data makes it difficult to determine if this increasing trend has continued or if the resource has slipped farther away from our target.

The acreage of Approved Shellfish Areas in Barnegat Bay has not changed substantially over the past nine years. This target remains a work in progress, as the targeted increase of 5% remains unachieved.

The most recent data available were used for the Wetland Protection target; thus, no change in status relative to the target is available. However, the trend over the past two decades has been a decrease in wetland area; this decrease suggests that much work remains to meet our goal of no wetland loss.
Targets Achieved
Continued growth of the human population within
the watershed is driving the withdrawal of increasing amounts of freshwater from the ecosystem over the past twenty years, resulting in exceedance of the Water Conservation and Reuse target to reduce withdrawals below the 2010 estimate (85.56MGD).

Critical Data Gaps
There is still no data available to quantify Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Extent. Seagrass is critically important to the bay’s fishes and wildlife; data are needed to know the present-day condition of the resource and understand how this resource may be changing compared to its historic condition.

Additionally, the baseline mapping and information needed to set the target for Wetland and Riparian Buffer Preservation is not currently available. These buffers provide habitat for fish and wildlife, trap and remove sediments and pollutants, and store floodwaters. These data are needed to understand how watershed development impacts this key resource.

The Ecological Flows target has not yet been calculated for the major waterways within the watershed. Ecological flows are the amount of water needed to sustainthe diversity of aquatic life and the functioning ecosystem in a river or stream. Stream flows below these values can lead to a cascade of adverse impacts for aquatic and human communities. Without an ecological flow target it is not possible to determine if current stream flows can sustain fish and wildlife populations.

2016 State of the Bay Video


UNKNOWN

There is limited data available to quantify Wetland and Riparian Buffer Preservation, or updated data to quantify Wetland Acreage. The BBP has obtained funding and will begin assessment efforts for both targets, in the next few years.

 

 Hard Clam abundance has not been updated since 2012. Recovery of the stock will be guided by the Fishery Management Plan for Hard Clams, which is under development with the NJDEP, BBP, and other organizations. Reclam the Bay and other partners have continued to plant clams for restoration purposes. Continued plantings in strategic locations which maximize survival and reproduction is one strategy to pursue in the coming years. This work can use a model developed by Rutgers with BBP funding which identified areas where planted clams could have the greatest dispersal of their larvae and thus potentially maximally contribute to the recovery of the stock.

 Water Withdrawals were over the target in the 2021 report; USGS has not yet completed its latest update, so a definitive determination of status is not available. However, additional NJDEP data show that it is likely that we continue to not meet the target. Per capita water use has gone down, demonstrating the effectiveness of water-saving appliances and practices, but that decrease has been offset by population gains. 


IN PROGRESS

New maps quantifying Submerged Aquatic Vegetation extent were developed, but poor image clarity resulted in a high degree of uncertainty in the total acreage. NJDEP and Rutgers are working to resolve the uncertainty of these maps, and improve the total acreage estimate. Funding has also been obtained for further research and restoration activities. Several groups are developing potential restoration actions.

The USGS has completed the first phase of its study to identify minimum ecological flows in select Barnegat Bay tributaries. USGS scientists compared streamflow statistics between historical and current time periods to better understand trends in watershed flow conditions. This work provides a foundation for developing ecological flow targets in the Barnegat Bay watershed.  Similar to SAV extent, funding (approximately $450K) has been obtained by the BBP to complete the remaining phases necessary for threshold determination.

 

TARGETS ACHIEVED

No targets can be considered “Achieved” at this time.

 

NOT ACHIEVING

Several Public Swimming Beaches exceeded their safe swimming standards more frequently than during their baseline time period (2016-2018).

While most beaches are routinely safe for swimming, several problematic areas such as Beachwood, Hancock, Windward, and several lake beaches need track-down studies and restoration to pinpoint and address sources of bacteria.

Acres of Approved Shellfish Waters decreased from the last report. While this decrease was small, it represents a loss of previously approved waters. Similar to public beaches, track-down studies and restoration work are needed to pinpoint and address sources of bacteria.

 

State of the Bay Reports

The Barnegat Bay Partnership prepares a State of the Bay Report every five years. To create the report, a technical work group of Barnegat Bay scientists reviews data from recent and ongoing research to determine both the current status and overall trends of indicators used to assess the bay’s condition.

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2021 Barnegat Bay Partnership State of the Bay Report