The board of chosen freeholders of any county bordering on the ocean may, in its discretion, appropriate a sum of money, not exceeding seventy-five hundred dollars in any one year, for the purpose of digging out or constructing a permanent inlet or waterway through which any river or creek running in or through such county may be connected with the ocean, and in establishing a permanent and lasting improvement by deepening such inlet and constructing bulkheads and jetties and by fixing a certain and definite channel for the ebb and flow of the tide.

Before any such work is done the plans for the same and the lines of such bulkheads and jetties, and of such channel, shall be submitted to the board of commerce and navigation and approved by it.