Sea Isle City beach tag inspector Carole Yoder, right, greets beachgoers in 2024.
Are they heading to the beach, or the ocean?
The sand-or-water question has sparked debate in New Jersey over whether everyone should have to pay for a beach tag at the shore during the summer – even to surf or fish.
Legislation pending in the New Jersey Assembly would exempt surfers and anglers from having to buy beach tags.
However, Sea Isle City officials have come out against the proposed legislation, contending it would simply create confusion and would be virtually impossible to enforce.
“It would be an unwieldy process for beach tags,” Councilman J.B. Feeley said.
Council President William Kehner indicated that the legislation would create a loophole for anyone “supposedly using the water.”
“We thought this was in opposition to our beach tag program,” Kehner said of the legislation.
A resolution approved by City Council at its March 25 meeting says Sea Isle would not be able to charge a beach fee “to any individual who represents that they will be going to the wet sand area for recreational purposes” if the legislation becomes law.
The legislation followed an incident last August in which a surfer in Belmar, Monmouth County, was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and obstruction of justice during a confrontation with police over not having a beach tag.
Assemblywoman Margie Donlon, D-Monmouth, a surfer herself, responded to the surfer’s arrest by proposing legislation to exempt surfers and fishermen from having to pay for beach tags.
Sea Isle's beach tag sales produced $1.7 million in revenue in 2024.The bill would “prohibit a municipality from requiring a municipal beach tag or similar admission pass for access to the wet sandy beach below the mean high tide line, for a surfer or a fisherman for the exclusive purpose of surfing or fishing.”
In other words, if someone is crossing the beach to access the water as a surfer or to fish, they would not need a beach tag under the proposed legislation.
Sea Isle’s resolution criticizes the legislation, asserting that the way it is currently drafted “will be virtually impossible to enforce at our beachfront.”
In 2024, Sea Isle’s beach tag sales produced record-high revenue of about $1.7 million, in large part because of a $5 across-the-board price increase for seasonal, weekly and daily tags.
Revenue generated by beach tag sales is an important source of funding. It covers the cost of keeping the beaches clean, collecting the trash, employing lifeguards and hiring summer police officers. The revenue also helps to pay for Sea Isle’s share of beach replenishment projects.
Sea Isle’s resolution says that the proposed legislation would cause a significant reduction in beach tag revenue to pay for all those expenses – to the detriment of everyone who uses and enjoys the beaches.
Sea Isle is urging the full Assembly to vote against the legislation, while warning that it could have “a significant adverse impact on all beach towns and on beachgoers from all over the area who flock to our safe, well-maintained beaches.”
State Assemblywoman Margie Donlon of Monmouth County proposes legislation to exempt surfers and anglers from beach tags.
