Editorial Policy
NJ Shore Guide is an independent guide to the Jersey Shore, compiled and maintained by the NJ Shore Guide editorial team. This page explains where our information comes from, how it is kept current, and what to do when we get something wrong.
Where Our Data Comes From
Wherever an official source exists, we build from it rather than writing from memory:
NOAA CO-OPS
Tide predictions for 9 New Jersey stations
Fetched automatically every day from the official NOAA Tides & Currents API. Tide pages never show hand-entered numbers.
NJDEP Cooperative Coastal Monitoring Program (CCMP)
Beach water quality (Enterococcus bacteria sampling, advisories, closures)
Imported from the NJDEP annual summary FeatureServer and refreshed on a monthly schedule. Ratings reflect the historical dataset years stated on each page — always check NJBeaches.org for live advisories.
NJ DEP Environmental Features
Offshore and inshore fishing ground boundaries, names, and acreage
Imported from the official NJ DEP GeoJSON MapServer. Editorial descriptions are added by our team and reviewed against the underlying data.
NJDEP / Montclair State University
Clinging jellyfish monitoring data
Re-imported monthly with automated validation that re-derives every risk tier before changes are published.
Municipal & county sources
Beach badge prices, parking rules, event dates
Compiled from town announcements and official pages, re-verified for the season stated in the page title. Prices can change mid-season — we link or name the issuing town so you can confirm.
First-party photography
Drone and ground photography across the shore
Shot by us, GPS-matched to towns at import time.
How Content Is Produced and Checked
Data-driven pages (tides, water quality, fishing grounds, beach badges) are generated from the sources above and pass automated validation before every release — checks that catch broken links, stale data, mismatched claims, and pages that no longer reflect the underlying dataset. Editorial content — town guides, itineraries, recommendations — is written and maintained by our team, drawing on time spent at the shore, local reputation, and reader feedback.
We label what we know and don't claim what we can't verify: dated information carries the season or dataset year it was collected for, and safety-relevant pages (water quality, marine conditions) point you to the live official source rather than presenting historical data as current.
Affiliate Revenue and Independence
The site is supported by advertising and affiliate partnerships (Booking.com, Vrbo, Viator, FishingBooker, Amazon). Bookings made through our links may earn us a commission at no cost to you. We never accept payment for a review, ranking, or placement, and affiliate relationships do not change what we recommend. See our full affiliate disclosure for details.
Corrections
Beach badge prices change, restaurants close, events move. If you find an error — a wrong price, a closed business, a stale date — please contact us. We review every report, and corrections ship with the next site update, usually within days.