New Sea Girt ordinance bans digging large holes at beach for safety reasons

The “fun” beach activity can be very dangerous, officials said.

Tony Caputo and Lanette Espy

•

May 9, 2024, 9:52 AM

•

Updated 181 days ago

Sea Girt passed a new ordinance, banning the digging of large holes in the sand at the beach.

The town passed the new ordinance in April to adopt stricter rules around sand hole digging. The “fun” beach activity can be very dangerous, officials said.

Holes cannot be deeper than 12 inches or the knees of the shortest participant, whichever is shorter.
Holes cannot be left unattended and must be filled before leaving the area.

The new ordinance allows beach patrol to enforce the no digging policy. Seaside Heights and Belmar also have rules regulating sand hole size.

"Well, I have kids and so I want to make sure they keep everybody safe. Hoes are good, but we have to make sure everybody is safe, so I think it would be positive to pass it," said Amanda Kukulski, of Manasquan. "It’s really tragic if something happened to a child on the beach when it’s supposed to be fun."

Wall resident John Troiso says, “I think it’s a good idea. There’s too much access when no one‘s around to help anybody out here so safety first is for the best.”

Some previous incidents involved those who created large holes and had it collapse around them have turned fatal, including an 18-year-old vacationing with his family from Maine back in 2022 in Toms River.

The New England Journal of Medicine published a study in 2007 and found that there were 52 documented sand collapses on beaches between 1997 and 2007. Half of those cases were fatal.