In looking for a club that might have the answers to what can be collected I found two great sites.
A Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, apparently with a display tank like I described above (just Jersey stuff)
www.wetlandsinstitute.org
And a NJ Marine Science Club, with a Marine Science camp for kids in Sandy Hook.
www.njmsc.org
ooo one more site, non native species problems:
www.sgnis.org/wow/
They look like two fantastic clubs to consider checking out sometime in the future . . . .