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New Jersey D.E.P. Assures Pallone Deal Lake Flume Will be Open Before Run Begins in April

March 8, 2005

Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today said his office has talked with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to make sure that the Deal Lake flume would be open in time for the spring herring runs. According to the New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife, the runs of fish are not likely to begin until mid-April.

Massive runs of alewife and blueback herring species normally swim up the flume to return to rivers and creeks along the Jersey Shore to spawn. In recent years, however, sand has choked the flume, preventing herring from returning at low tide and often exposing them to severe gull predation. In previous years, the DEP has been responsible for keeping the flume clear.

"The DEP says it will start a ten-day contract bid period at the end of the week and will then award the work to a firm to send in a track excavator to clear out the flume," Pallone said. "Since the work only takes a couple of days to complete, it should be finished before the end of the month. Keeping the flume open is vital to ensuring that our fishermen can rely on consistent stocks of herring, which are critical baitfish."

Pallone also expressed his continued disappointment that the DEP has not yet completed the extension of the outfall for the Deal Lake flume. Last March, Pallone brokered a deal on a new engineering plan for the Deal Lake Flume that would allow the herring population access to Deal Lake, but would not affect wave patterns for surfers who use the adjoining beach. The agreement satisfied DEP, local surfers and fishing groups. The project to extend the flume along the north side of the existing jetty should have been completed in the fall of 2004.

"The DEP needs to take responsibility and do what is right for the environment and for our fishermen," Pallone said. "I have ensured that they do not need additional permits from the Army Corps. They simply need to move forward and put in the permanent outfall extension so we no longer have to deal with this problem every year."

The design extends the flume inside the already existing jetty. This would prevent any disruption of wave patterns along the beachfront for surfers and, at the same time, solve the blockage problem by keeping the flume clear of sediment buildup along the jetty. Once construction is completed, fishermen will be granted complete access to fish off the jetty.