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On the morning of Jan. 3rd, 1992, at Seaside Heights, N.J. the ocean was wild and furious, as I had never seen it before. Huge waves successively thundered forward and broke on the beach. I tried to get some pictures, but the lens of my camera kept getting wet. It was an impressive sight, but unfortunately no pictures. That night my wife Pearl and I were watching the "New Jersey Nightly News" program. There were reports of the destruction, the storm had caused along the coast. One segment showed millions of sea clams, dislodged from the sea floor and covering the entire beach from Margate to Longport. That sparked my interest in getting some photographs, that would compensate me for the ones I had missed at Seaside Heights. Early on Saturday morning of January 11th,1992, we drove down from Toms River to Margate to have a look. Margate is 4 or 5 miles south of Atlantic City. At Margate, some of the clams had been stock-piled and two front end loaders were dumping clams back into the sea, The air temperature was about 36 F, the clams were still alive clicking and clacking. The air was pungent with the smell of clams but not offensive. At this point a conservatively dressed man approached us and said "I never saw anything like this" and with a sweep of his arm added significantly "It's Disgusting". We drove south to Longport where the beach ends at the Great Egg Harbor inlet. No clean up had started as yet. The whole
width of the beach as far north as we could see toward Margate, 2 miles away was blanketed with clams. The beaches were
about 150 to 200 feet wide. I made several photo exposures. I thought I had a scoop. 18 photographs turned out well. I later learned that "These clams were 4" to 6" (old clams) that were set too close to the surf zone and suffered the dead on the beach fate". This was the comment by the editor of the "Underwater Naturalist" in the Sept. 1993, issue of the quarterly publication of the American Littoral Society. I had submitted the article with one of my photographs The editor's comment raised many questions that haunted me for many years. First, why were so many clams concentrated in that area, in shallow water? Secondly, how did clams weighing about 1/2 pounds get on to the beach from Margate to Longport, 2 miles of beach? Obviously, the environmental conditions were most suitable for the clams basic needs, to colonize in water without disturbance. In studying a new set of photographs recently, it appears the sea floor slopes slightly. So that with no obstructions a wave rolls in gently to break on the beach and returns to the sea. That is why it was a popular summer resort. It changed on January 1,2, and 3rd, 1992. A severe northeastern storm of three days, combined with the powerful "spring tide" (the highest tide of the month) struck the coast of New Jersey. The combination was powerful to intensify the swirling motion of the waters that removed the fine particles of sea mud in the shallow waters, where the clams were concentrated, moving the clams closer to the shore as they became water borne over the entire distance from Margate to Longport. As the thunderous waves advanced towards the beach, clams and receding waters were sucked up instantaneously, arching upwardly, forming the next wave with the clams on top, crashing on the beach, depositing the clams at the high tide line. Waters rushed back on the sloping beach to be sucked up with clams for next wave, and so on, and so on, until the tide ebbed, 6 hours later. The beaches from Margate to Longport were blanketed with sea clams. When the storm had run its course and subsided, the local residents awoke to look out to see the havoc that had been done. They were shocked and must have thought "They had never had seen anything like it before". While they suddenly realized the magnitude of how gigantic the forces of nature could be , they were concerned about cleaning it up. When we arrived in Margate, a week after the storm, we saw two front-end loaders returning clams to the sea. They were obviously inadequate to cover the two miles from Margate to Longport before rising temperatures could set off such a stench, that everyone would have to leave town. Their investment in tourist accommodations would disappear. I imagine they were in a state of panic. We assume they joined the real estate agents and attended the next Town Council meeting to demand prompt and appropriate action to clean up the beaches in time for the tourists who come in the spring to rent for the summer. The Town Council must have yielded and got the Bureau of Emergency Management to assume the task of cleaning up the beaches. They had the resources, financial, equipment, manpower and experience to do this. Since we haven't heard any news of a disastrous summer, we can assume that the tourists came, just as summers before to enjoy "life at the shore" in New Jersey. EDWARD SCHWARTZ |
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