Life on Barnegat Bay on Local TV

"Life on the Barnegat Bay," a documentary about the ecological deterioration of Barnegat Bay and hopes for its restoration, will be broadcast on local cable television systems Jan. 11 through Jan. 16.

Produced by the Barnegat Bay Partnership and the staff of Ocean TV-20 at Ocean County College, the film features Paul D. "Pete" McLain of Toms River, a veteran wildlife biologist and former deputy state wildlife director whose professional and personal life has been intertwined with the bay for most of his 80-plus.

The airing of this documentary comes on the heels of the recent bills signed by Governor Christie in Waretown which will have a signifcantly positive impact on the Bay. According to legislative testimony by Scotts MiracleGro in August of this year this bill will become the model for most other states. The law will be the first in the country to regulate the content of fertilizer rather than merely rely on homeowners to read and follow the directions on the bag as the mechanism for protecting estuaries.

"Save Barnegat Bay" who is responsible for pushing the legislation, is a not-for-profit environmental group working to conserve undeveloped natural land and clean water throughout the Barnegat Bay watershed. They were founded in 1971 as a local chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America, a leading national environmental organization.

The film also features a look at the Sedge Island Natural Resource Education Center near Island Beach State Park, and the Lighthouse Center in Waretown, where environmental education programs are teaching a new generation of students about the bay's problems.

The documentary will be broadcast Tuesday at 8 p.m.; Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.; Thursday at 7:30 p.m.; and again Sunday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. It can be seen on Ocean TV-20 on Comcast of Toms River, Long Beach Island Channel 20, and on Verizon FiOS in northern Ocean County, Channel 24.

Karl Hess, Jersey Shore Real Estate