Green Jersey

Weekend eco-news roundup

Above: A seal found on Normandy Beach in February.

Image via the Stranding Center.

Two gray seals were found on the beach in Long Branch yesterday. One was released, and the other is being treated for injuries. Bob Schoelkopf, founder of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, a rescue operation, told the Asbury Park Press that seals and other sea mammals are becoming an increasingly common sight on the state’s beaches. (The center saw the most stranded seals, 108, in 2005. The total for 2008, as of March 30, was 48.) To report a stranding, call (609) 266-0538.

Trout season began officially yesterday at 8 a.m. Each spring, the state’s public waters are stocked with about 570,000 trout, according to the Division of Fish and Wildlife; by the time the season began yesterday, 180,000 trout had been stocked. Click here for the stocking schedule and improve your odds.

Gov. Corzine and DEP commissioner Lisa Jackson defended the administration’s environmental policy yesterday at the annual N.J. Environmental Federation Conference in Newark, according to a post by Bill Wolfe on NJ Voices. Wolfe says Jackson agreed to add two or three environmentalists to the heretofore environmentalist-free permit efficiency task force she announced March 24. But, says Wolfe, she will also add “lobbyists” on the other side of the aisle.

Gas prices hit an all-time high nationwide today: $3.32 per gallon. While Newark apparently had the nation’s lowest prices, at $3.03 a gallon, mass transit is growing ever more attractive. Visit hopstop.com or the new Google Transit to plan a route.

A state court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit by the Southern New Jersey Watermen’s Association that challenged a 2006-2007 moratorium on the harvesting of horseshoe crabs. The court said the recent legislation banning crab harvesting made the challenge moot.