The Department of Environmental Protection may, by appropriate action in any court, prevent the encroachment or trespass upon the water front of any of the navigable waters of this State or bounding thereon, or upon the riparian lands of this State, and compel the removal of any such encroachment or trespass, and restrain, prevent and remove any construction, erection or accretion injurious to the flow of any such waters, which may be detrimental to the proper navigation thereof and the maintenance and improvement of commerce thereon.
N.J.S. § 12:5-2