If caught in a rip, remain calm! Wave or call for help, flip onto your back and float, rather than fighting against the current, and follow it as it takes you to calmer waters where it dissipates and you can swim safely to shore. More at www.nyseagrant.org/ripcurrents. Credit: Joel Davenport | New York & New Jersey Sea Grant Programs

— Published by 94.3 FM The Point (Filed by Liz Jeressi)

Toms River, NJ, August 13, 2020 - BEach SAFEly. Get it?

Throughout this summer, New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium (NJSGC) and New York Sea Grant (NYSG) want you to enjoy the beach safely.

COVID-19 brings more considerations beyond the usual “beach safety and ocean hazards” messages that you've always heard.

So continuing every Thursday into early September, the Sea Grant programs will debut a new social media graphic each week to remind beachgoers to stay safe while still having fun at the Jersey Shore (and beyond).

The first message in the series involved Social Distancing:

- The beaches are open and you should enjoy them! Just remember that you still need to practice social distancing. So: Embrace your personal space!

- Stay at least 6 feet apart from other beachgoers that you didn’t come with. Think of it like this:

- Six feet is the average length of either one surfboard, two boogie boards, a bit more than an beach towel length, or three beach chairs – you could even measure based on your beach umbrella pole!

- When you’re walking around the beach, to and from the parking lot or other facilities, or if you can’t stay more than 6 feet apart from others, remember to wear your mask.

- Frequently wash or sanitize your hands. And if you feel sick, stay home.

Other message topics from the Sea Grants since that one include: “Grab your Sunscreen and Sanitizer,” “Stay Dry when Waves are High,” and “Break the Grip of the Rip!”

Please visit the BEach SAFEly website to learn more about all of these topics, (including the topic of utmost importance to everyone — rip currents) and to download the official images in both English and Spanish to help others.

If you printed these easy-to-look-at photos for your little kids and explained what each one meant, you could rest assured they'd not only be safer today, but would carry around these messages for life!

More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, University at Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University in Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly. Our program also produces an occasional e-newsletter,"NOAA Sea Grant's Social Media Review," via its blog, www.nyseagrant.org/blog.