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by Rich Esposito
(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association May 2001 Newsletter)
The first order of business I want to
discuss is the length of the monthly meetings. Since I’ve taken over as president,
the meetings have been running a bit long. My sincere apology goes out to those club reps
that drive over an hour to get home after the meetings. I do not wish to make a big deal
over this, but I will be attempting to keep the monthly meetings moving and to target
10:00 p.m. as the time to entertain the motion to adjourn the meeting. Please do not get
upset if I ask you to either speed up your reports, limit the number of questions or wait
until the meeting is adjourned to further discuss an issue. We must be compassionate to
those who drive a long distance to attend our meetings, and I ask all of those who attend
the monthly meetings for your support and attention to this matter.
As you are already aware, the High
Roller Raffle will be drawn the night of our monthly meeting to be held on Tuesday, April
24th. Please be sure to bring any and all remaining tickets to the meeting as
early as possible, as we will be conducting the drawing in the first part of the meeting
and we need to have all the tickets in. Do not forget that you do not have to be present
to win any of the prizes which this year total $2, 900.
I wish to thank Tom Siciliano and the
members of the Hudson River Fishing Club for keeping us informed on the proposed cleanup
of the PCB’s in the Hudson River. Being a transplanted New Yorker, I have enjoyed the
great striper action that can be found in the Hudson but always released the fish because
of the high levels of PCB’s. These chemicals did not find their way into the River by
accident, so why shouldn’t the ones responsible for putting them in the River also be
responsible for their removal. We all know why the offenders are attempting to fight this,
as the Hudson River is only one of a number of waterways that will have to be cleaned at
their expense if we win here.
There is no good news to report on the
upcoming summer flounder regulations for this year. It seems that the Atlantic States
Marine Fisheries Commission succumbed to the demands of the National Marine Fisheries
Service and reduced the quota for both the recreational and commercial fisherman. Just
what the quota will be for the recreational fisherman will be determined by ASMFC April 9th
using the third set of tables provided. What this will mean has yet to be determined, but
it seems likely that even with a 16” limit, we may not have a season that lasts
beyond Labor Day. Tom has said that the only way to keep up the fight would be for the
recreational fishermen to bring lawsuits of their own to fight this, but the recreational
fishermen are not unified enough at this time to take the fight to the NMFS via lawsuits,
which I don’t have to remind you takes a great deal of money. I ask all club reps to
bring this information to your clubs and let us know what their response is.
JCAA has sent a letter to direct Clean Ocean Action and American
Littoral Society to delete our name from their letter since we have vote to no longer be a
participating member of those groups.I’d like to say a word about the vote and repeat
our position. Although it is never a pleasant task to have a vote such as this, I must
repeat that the JCAA utilizes the democratic process and agenda when it comes to making or
maintaining policy, and although it is not a prerequisite of membership in our
organization, it is a requirement of any organization that we belong to, which is only
fair. This decision by no means stops or should hinder any present or future projects that
we may be involved directly or indirectly with the COA or ALS, because the truth of the
matter is, we are all working hard together for the of same goals. We have been invited to
place a member of our organization on the board of directors for the COA and ALS and are
pressing for a person to fill that position. If interested, please contact Paula Edmond.
