Praise, Not Penalties, for Brick's Summer Seaweed Cleanup

Township council members gave Seawood Harbor resident Steve Smith a "Hometown Hero" award at their meeting Tuesday night, honoring his service this summer in removing piles of toxic seaweed from his neighborhood that was making fellow residents feel sick.

Smith, who owns a construction company, donated equipment and manpower to help remove the seaweed from the cove in Barnegat Bay that the Seawood Harbor neighborhood fronts. The rotting seaweed was releasing hydrogen sulfide gas into the air in the neighborhood. The gas emitted a foul odor and caused some homeowners in the neighborhood to get sick.

Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis decided that the township would in removing the seaweed at a council meeting in July after state and county officials failed to act quickly to remove it, but there was some initial worry that the state DEP could fine the township for removing seaweed from state waters. That worry was finally put to bed Tuesday night.

"As long as there was no live vegetation being disturbed, they didn't have a problem," Business Administrator Scott Pezarras said of state officials.

An original plan being floated during the incident called for a vacuum bucket to suck up the seaweed, but the plan Smith and township crews carried out passed muster with the state.

"They forced all the material that was floating on top down to the beach," then once it got to the beach, removed it using backhoes and dump trucks.

As for Smith: "He saved the township thousands and thousands of dollars," Council President Brian DeLuca said.

"I went out to the site while all this was going on, and there was a lot of men cleaning up," said DeLuca, adding that the operation did not harm sea grass beds or wildlife in the area.

"It was done in a way [state officials] were very happy with," said DeLuca.

"I'd like to thank the council for doing something I rarely ever see – taking immediate action on something that was a threat," said Smith. "I'm proud to live in this town."