A beach tag (also beach badge or beach token) is an admission pass that must be purchased to access a

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

. It is commonly associated with the

Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May P ...

in the U.S. state of

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

, where many communities restrict summer beach access to residents and visitors who pay a fee for a daily, weekly, or seasonal pass. Beaches with a beach-tag program use the proceeds to offset the maintenance and staffing costs associated with running a beach, such as funding

lifeguard A lifeguard is a rescuer who supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, beach, spa, river and lake. Lifeguards are trained in swimming and Cardiopulmonary ...

restrooms A public toilet, restroom, public bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils ...

, and trash removal.

History

Beach tags for New Jersey beaches can be traced back to 1937 when some towns in the northern portion of the Jersey Shore such as Seaside Heights had brass beach badges marked by gender. Surf City on Long Beach Island started requiring beach tags in 1967. Stone Harbor became the first municipality in the southern portion of the Jersey Shore to require beach tags in 1971, and Sea Isle City followed suit in 1972. In Ocean City, beach tags were implemented in 1976, although discussions for beach fees in the city date back to the 1930s. Long Beach Township on Long Beach Island approved beach tags on November 5, 1976. In 2021, the Cape May County municipalities of Wildwood, North Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, and Upper Township - four of the five municipalities in New Jersey which do not have beach tags - were considering implementing beach tags.

Pricing

Daily, weekly, and seasonal tags can usually be purchased at participating beaches, and each municipality sets its own rates and policies. Beaches typically do not charge for children under the age of 12 and may offer discounts to seniors. In certain municipalities, discounts are given for seasonal passes purchased before a specific date (e.g., May 15 in

Seaside Heights, New Jersey Seaside Heights is a borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 2,887,Long Beach Island, which is about twenty miles long, comprises six municipalities, each with its own beach tags, and beach-goers cannot purchase a tag in one Long Beach Island municipality and use it in another.

Criticism

The goals of beach tags, or tokens, are to either restrict the beach to only community members, or to generate user fees for lifeguards and maintenance (e.g., trash removal). On the Jersey Shore, beach tags are controversial because the

public trust doctrine The public trust doctrine is the principle that the sovereign holds in trust for public use some resources such as shoreline between the high and low tide lines, regardless of private property ownership. Origins The ancient laws of the Byzantin ...

generally gives the public the right to access the

intertidal zone The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species ...

, and guests may feel that a beach with beach tags should offer a superior service to free beaches. Additionally, detractors debate whether beach tags are actually to restrict beach use to people who are paying visitors of hotels, beach house rentals, and local residents. Proponents of beach tags suggest that they improve the cleanliness and safety of the beaches, making the tag fees akin to user fees that prevent

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