By SUZANNE MARINO
Staff Writer

The waters off Ventnor, Margate, and Longport churned up a little more than just seaweed Tuesday afternoon when multiple 55-gallon plastic drums washed ashore.
At Buffalo Avenue in Ventnor, two barrels washed up, according to a lifeguard who responded to questions at headquarters.
“We had Public Works come and remove them. We did not think it was a really big deal, and we did not see a need to close the beaches, it was just some fish.”
Farther down the beach in Margate, one barrel washed in at Jefferson Avenue. Frank Ricciotti, the director of Public Works, said he had a front-end loader remove it from the beach and bring it back to the public works yard. He said it came in about one-quarter filled with water and dead fish.
Margate Beach Patrol contacted the Atlantic County Board of Health for advice. Chuck LaBarre of the Beach Patrol said the barrels came in around 1 p.m. and he kept the Jefferson Avenue beach closed until 3 p.m., when a call from Atlantic County Health Director Pat Diamond confirmed that the barrel contained just fish, clams and mussels.
Ricciotti said the barrel had very little if any growth on it, indicating it was not in the water very long and probably fell off a fishing boat very recently.
Farther south in Longport, three barrels found their way to the beach. Beach Patrol Capt. Dan Adams said the Public Works Department removed them from the beach.
“We had the Fire Department on standby,” said Adams. “The barrels here came in at 23rd Street, and just for a precaution we closed the beaches adjacent at 21st through 25th streets.”
Adams said that after initially closing the beaches to bathers and swimmers, they got the word from the county that what the barrels contained was pretty much chum used for fishing, but they opted to leave the beaches closed until Wednesday.
“People just sunbathing or sitting on the beach are welcome but we will re-open the beach tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.,” he said Tuesday.
Results from tests run by the health department will be available Wednesday morning. Diamond said.
“This happens. Nets break and release their contents, and it appears to be fish and mussels, a naturally occurring event, only in bulk. It is not a health concern.  Like the mussels that washed up on the beaches last summer, this is a naturally occurring event.”
She said all beaches could be opened and that there was no health crisis.