"The repeated temporary fixes that have been done to clear out the flume are not solving the problem at Deal Lake, which is why we need this permanent solution in place," Pallone said. "Completing an extension of the flume will be a boon to the fishermen that depend on healthy runs of alewives and bluebacks as baitfish, to the taxpayers who will no longer have to pay for annual work to clear out the flume, and to the environment."
Pallone spoke with DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell last month about the problems at Deal Lake, and Acting Governor Richard Codey made completion of the flume extension part of a recently announced coastal initiative.
Pallone worked extensively with fishing and surfing organizations, along with the DEP and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to come up with an acceptable design for the flume extension. The design was approved in July 2004 and calls for an extension along the north side of the existing jetty.
"Concerned citizens and government officials have come together to find common ground on how to design the flume," Pallone said. "Now it's time to make the permanent extension a reality."
The Deal Lake flume allows sea herring to return from the ocean to the lake and then travel to nearby rivers and creeks to spawn in the spring, after which the juvenile fish swim to the ocean. The flume often fills with sand, making it impossible for juvenile herring to swing across the flume at low tide and exposing them to severe gull predation.
