Diving Squad To Scrub Jellyfish Off Berkeley Shores' Bulkheads

BERKELEY, NJ — A team of volunteer divers will be taking steps to reduce the number of jellyfish in the Berkeley Shores area on Saturday morning by scrubbing the lagoon's bulkheads.

The team's first bulkhead scrubbing event is part of Save Barnegat Bay’s Stop the Sting campaign. Through a partially funded New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) grant, Save Barnegat Bay is working in three lagoon communities to study experimental population reduction methods to find the best control procedures.

Dr. Paul Bologna, a Montclair State University scientist who is also a partner on the project, has noticed that bay nettle jellyfish have been taking over lagoon communities throughout the northern area of the Barnegat Bay.

“As these jellyfish move through their lifecycle, their polyps attach to hard surfaces like vinyl bulkheads and floating docks,” Dr. Bologna said. “As many as 100,000 jellyfish polyps can settle on one floating dock, and each polyp produces multiple bay nettle jellyfish every spring season.”

Greg Elliot, chief diver of the Berkeley Township Underwater Search and Rescue Squad, plans to create polyp disruption during the scrubbing event using a Mud Bug, which he describes as the “perfect inshore diving workboat.”

The boat is built to house powerful scrubbers, digital recording tools and all the safety features required when working in turbid and potentially hazardous waters.

Scrubbing is just one aspect of the Stop the Sting campaign, according to Save Barnegat Bay’s jellyfish education coordinator, Brittany McLaughlin.

McLaughlin has been holding educational events such as “Jellyfish Observation Days” for homeowners.

“Homeowners from all over Barnegat Bay have been participating in our community science program by hanging settling plates in their lagoons to help us study jellyfish polyps," McLaughlin said.

During these observation days, community scientists work with Dr. Bologna and students from MATES under the direction of Dr. John Wnek. MATES students have also had the opportunity to work on water quality testing under this campaign.

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