New Pumpout Boat to be Added for 2024 Under County-Funded Program

Ocean County’s new pumpout boat being outfitted over the winter, 2024. (Photo: Ocean County)

A third pumpout boat will patrol the northern portion of Barnegat Bay and adjacent waters this summer as part of Brick Township’s participation in Ocean County’s free marine pumpout program.

Funded through the Clean Vessel Act, which taps a combination of state and federal funds, the pumpout boat program is paid for by the county’s engineering department and operated by several municipalities that arrange slips for the boats and hire part-time captains to run them during the season. The wastewater from boats’ tanks is pumped into the county boat, then ultimately released into the sanitary sewer system like other waste. The “Shore to Please” license plate program also helps fund the pumpout program.

Brick hosts two boats at Traders Cove Marina – the Bay Saver and Bay Defender – and this year will add a third boat which has yet to be named. The new boat is currently being outfitted for service, a process which has been underway since the fall. The county provides each municipality $25,000 per vessel, each year, to operate. Additional costs of sewerage are funded by the Ocean County Utilities Authority.

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Emptying a boat’s waste tank is free for boaters, and largely ended the practice of boaters empty their tanks into the bay – a major issue in New Jersey coastal history that has now come to an end through both pumpout programs and the passage of “no discharge” zones.

“We’re going to have the Bay Saver, Bay Defender and a new boat coming to us this spring,” said Councilman Steve Feinman. “The pump-out boats provide a convenient, inexpensive and environmentally-safe means to dispose of effluent waste.”

Ocean County’s new pumpout boat being outfitted over the winter, 2024. (Photo: Ocean County)

Ocean County’s new pumpout boat being outfitted over the winter, 2024. (Photo: Ocean County)

The county generally operates seven boats up and down the bay each season, though the number falls or rises by one at a time when a vessel is retired. Most recently, the first vessel in the program, based in Seaside Park, was sold at auction after 25 years of service. That vessel was the only boat to be owned by the municipality instead of the county. All three of Brick’s boats are owned by the county and operated by the township through a shared services agreement, which was renewed in a unanimous vote by the council this week.

Boaters can contact the boats via mobile phone or on VHF channel 9 on marine radio.