Saving Seafood

NEW JERSEY: Jersey Shore fishermen face another threat at sea. Chemical weapons dumped decades ago.

April 20, 2026 — A fishing crew harvesting clams off the coast of Cape May in October 2023 pulled up an unexpected and dangerous find alongside their catch — a leaking chemical weapon.

The incident led to a fisherman being treated for second-degree burns and the destruction of 32 bushels of surf clams, according to a March 5 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New Jersey Department of Health.

It may seem inconceivable, but it’s not the first time a fisherman in New Jersey has encountered chemical munitions at sea.

“It has happened in the past for some of the clam boats, which mainly operate in Atlantic City and Point Pleasant,” said Scot Mackey of the Garden State Seafood Association, a statewide organization of roughly 1,200 commercial fishers.

Read the full article at NJ.com

 

New Jersey’s secret weapon against Zika

July 7, 2016 — As the New Jersey Department of Health continues its push to educate the public and the medical community about the threat to pregnant women posed by the Zika virus, the state Department of Environmental Protection is ramping up efforts to clamp down on Jersey’s mosquito population.

Experts believe the Aedes aegypti type of mosquito, usually associated with Zika transmission, may be in New Jersey, while a close relative, Aedes albopictus, is definitely here, and it has been known in the past to transmit the disease, which can cause severe birth defects.

“This year the county mosquito control agencies and the DEP are fighting with more intensity because of the potential Zika virus. We’re now stepping up our game right across the state and we’re working with those county agencies,” said NJ DEP Commissioner Bob Martin.

A big part of that effort involves using fish that eat mosquito eggs.

Read the full story at New Jersey 101.5