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by Tom Fote
(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association February 2003 Newsletter)
Here is a letter I received from a concerned angler and father. I agree with him that this is one of the most important issues so I asked him if I could print his letter and my response.
Hello, the work you are doing is great. I am a fisherman, but more importantly I am a father who wants his kids and grandkids to have the cleanest water in their lifetimes so they can enjoy water activities as much as I did. I live in New Jersey and the information I have says 85% of our waterways are too polluted to swim or fish in and that 1.1 billion gallons of wastewater from sewage treatment plants are discharged into our waters everyday. Now that sounds to me like something has to be done, or nobody in the near future is going to be able to do any water activities. Is it possible to have the Army Corp of Engineer’s make a water treatment plant that actually filters the wastewater until it is drinkable before it is again released into our waterways? The waste product can be used as a means of power to run the plant. True it may be very, very expensive to do, but aren’t we worth it? We have to keep using the same water century to century. No new water is made, and we are running out of unpolluted water. Let me know if you think this is possible and if you think its a fight worth fighting for.
Thank you,
Sal Grieco
Dear Sal,
There are treatment systems out there that will accomplish just what you ask for. The water the plant discharges is clean enough to drink. The Army Corp of Engineers does not run these plants but local governments operate the sewer treatment plants. You hit the nail on the head that these plants are very expensive and presently the money is not available to upgrade old sewer plants or build new plants to do just that. The money we would need to accomplish this has to come from tax dollars. It took about 20 years and hundreds of billions of dollars to implement the requirements of the last Clean Water Bill that required the upgrading the sewer plants to their present level of treatment. I agree that the next step is to make their discharge drinkable. This needs to be done and JCAA has been calling for this for years along with many other groups. But this is a tough battle. People say they want to protect the environment until they find out they will have to pay for it with their taxes. The money we are spending on buying land for open space is a drop in the bucket when we talk about upgrading the sewer treatment plants of New Jersey. We also cannot afford to keep flushing all the fresh water out to the ocean after it has only has been used once.
In previous JCAA articles, I have talked about how we are pumping the aquifers of New Jersey dry and the levels of lakes and streams in NJ have dropped substantially. You can find those articles in archives of our newspaper at our web page. The flow of fresh water into our bays and estuaries has diminished and the entire ecosystem is changing because of that. We do not know what the long-term effect of this will be.
The upgrading of all the sewer plants in NJ so the discharge is drinkable is a necessity but if we had the money to start tomorrow it would take many years before this would be accomplished. In the meantime there are things that can we can do as individuals that will have an immediate affect on the amount of water we use and waste. Here are some of those things we can do right now. We need to also start conserving water and using gray water. Conserving water requires retraining the population so we all become aware of how we are wasting water. It might be a simple as not letting the water run when you brush your teeth or installing a new shower head that conserves water. You can landscape your property so it is water friendly. That means using plants that are native to your area and require less water. You can refrain from washing your car until it is necessary. These actions can pay great dividends in the amount of water we can consume and they cost very little. There are many more actions we can take. Many groups have literature available with additional ideas. Except for the use of gray water, these actions are all voluntary and do not require any regulations. All you need is your personal commitment to cut down on your water use.
This year’s drought should have been a wakeup call for New Jersey’s citizens but my fear is that many of them have short memories and do not want to be inconvenienced. Just think how many of them were complaining about not watering their lawns or washing their cars after we had the first rain that really did not cure the problem. I always compare the price of a gallon of gas with a gallon of water. If the price of gas goes up people start complaining and media starts reporting it. No one talks about the price we are paying for a bottle of water in the store because we think it is safer to drink than the water we get from the tap. Wars have been fought over fishing rights, oil and land. In the near future we will be fighting wars over drink water. We already are doing this is some countries and in the United States we have states and different groups suing over water. Some states need to decide whether to raise crops, or allow for salmon runs, or run power plants. In Washington State, farmers were paid not to raise crops because of the value of the water needed to run the power plants. Our children can’t wait for us to decide this is a crisis. JCAA and I will continue to work hard on this issue and we value all the help you can give.
It was interesting to receive this week’s copy of the Fisherman Magazine. It has a great article by Fred Golofaro entitled “Where have all the big bass gone?” It was refreshing to read an article that restates what I have been trying to tell people for the last couple of years.
There will be a meeting of the NJ Marine Fisheries Council weakfish advisors to discuss options for weakfish regulations for next year. . These options come from the table that ASMFC approved at the last Weakfish Board meeting. The options are 7 fish at 12, 8 fish at 13, 9 fish at 14 and 10 fish greater than or equal to 15 inches. The full NJMFC will meet on March 6 at 4:00PM in Absecon to discuss and approve one of these options for 2003. If you have strong feelings on any one of these options, let your JCAA club representative know because we will be discussing our position at the January 28 meeting. If you want to let the NJMFC know how you feel, call or write them at N.J. Division of Fish and Wildlife, Attention: NJ Marine Fisheries Council, P.O. Box 400, Trenton, NJ 08625-0400. Their email is njwildlife@nac.net
The NJMFC will be taking the same path with summer flounder that they are taking with weakfish. There will be an NJMFC Advisors meeting and then a NJMFC meeting to determine the size, bag limit and season for summer flounder for 2003. The ASMFC sent out tables that will be used to determine next year’s size, bag limit and season for summer flounder. Because we were under quota last year in NJ, the regulations will be relaxed. At first glance the table looks as if we can stay at the same bag and size limit but would not to have a closed season. Or we might be able to go to a smaller size with a season. We will have exercise some care when we relax regulations since we might have to pay back overages next year or at least have tougher regulations. It is unfair that we cannot take advantage of the summer flounder quota we were not allowed to catch last year because of the regulations that were imposed on us. We could probably go to a smaller size limit and/or a bigger bag limit and have no season. This is not going to happen. The only thing that some ASMFC Commissioners and some Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council members are pushing for is paybacks when we go over our quota but they never consider allowing us to recoup unused quota. What is truly absurd is that we are using the Marine Recreational Survey for these figures. This survey was designed to show trends and was never designed for quota management, especially state-by-state management. I was going to say this is a joke but it is far too serious to be a joke. These decisions affect hundreds of thousands of anglers in NJ and means hundred of millions of dollars to the businesses that depend on these anglers. Again, when the options are made available to us, JCAA will meet to discuss a position and you can contact the NJMFC at the same address given in the weakfish story to share your opinion.
Saltwater Fishing License is Dead
Commissioner Campbell announced last week that the Saltwater Fishing License is dead for the time being. During the discussion in press and other media I have received many emails and other inquiries about JCAA’s position on a saltwater fishing license. It was the hot topic while I was away and I did send out emails and make phone calls to let people know the JCAA position. First, let me be perfectly clear. JCAA has always been opposed to a saltwater fishing license. One of my first JCAA responsibilities in the early 80’s was staffing a booth and collecting signatures on a petition opposing a saltwater fishing license. Every time JCAA has solicited our member clubs and the general fishing population on this issue, there has been consistent opposition to a saltwater license. At this time JCAA’s position remains the same - we are opposed to a saltwater license.
Recently, JCAA was invited to a meeting sponsored by the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife to discuss ways to fund New Jersey’s marine fisheries programs. At that meeting there were many funding options discussed. Only one of those options is a saltwater license. We pointed out that the amount of money being discussed (an additional 6 million dollars) to fully fund these programs is certainly small in comparison to other programs being bankrolled from the general fund. Previous governors and legislatures have failed to adequately fund the necessary programs for marine fisheries. This needs to stop. New Jersey ranks 13th of the 15 states along the Atlantic Coast in spending of money on marine resources. Depending on the survey you consult, New Jersey ranks 2nd or 3rd in the number of marine anglers. We generally rank 4th or 5th in commercial participation. When we look at the quality of life for New Jersey citizens, the marine ecosystem is a major factor for all the citizens of New Jersey.
The programs under discussion are not just programs for the recreational community. These programs are for resource protection, enhancement and law enforcement. These programs would benefit all citizens, helping to provide safe seafood to eat, providing law enforcement to make sure the rules and regulations are enforced to protect the resource and our citizens. Additional programs are required by the ASMFC and the NMFS for collecting data; commercial, recreational or purely biological. Some people who appear to be in favor of a saltwater license think the funds raised will be used to limit the commercial fishermen. That is not true. These programs will benefit the commercial community as much as or more than the recreational community. All we have to do is look at some of the current quotas or harvest limits for scup, summer flounder, clams, crabs, or lobster to recognize that commercial fishermen harvest the majority of these species and have the greatest benefit if quotas are increased or harvest limits are relaxed.
New Jersey’s recreational fishing community already contributes a huge amount of money to the general fund through money spent on fishing. We pay a boat registration fee to the general fund that was doubled this year. Only recreational boaters pay an additional tax on fuel that goes into the general fund. An estimated 50 million dollars in sales tax is collected on the sale of fishing tackle and that money also goes into the general fund. There is also a 10% excise tax on the wholesale price of all fishing tackle. Various studies estimate that New Jersey’s marine anglers spend over a billion dollars a year on saltwater fishing. This adds a tremendous value to New Jersey’s overall economy. If you look at how many people in New Jersey depend on either recreational or commercial fishing, we probably have several million people. We know over a million people fish. Many more eat fish or work in a business that benefits from either recreational or commercial fishing.
I can’t understand how we can spend 150 million dollars of taxpayer’s money on a stadium that will be used or enjoyed by only a few thousand people who can afford the exorbitant ticket prices but the legislature and the governor can’t find 6 million dollars to fund marine fisheries programs.
A saltwater fishing license is not a possibility in the immediate future. However, the needs of the marine fisheries programs are immediate. We need to find a way to fund these programs now and stop using the saltwater license as a red herring. As the Commissioner to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, I see the need for research, stock assessment, monitoring and law enforcement. Both the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council have increased the responsibilities for their member states without providing sufficient funding. We will be voted out of compliance because we are failing to do the necessary monitoring for many species. That is why I am calling on all the people who care about the marine resources of this state to contact Governor McGreevey and their state legislators and demand that marine resources receive immediate, sufficient funding for the listed purposes.