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May 26th 2003
by Alexander Lane - Star-Ledger Staff
(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association July 2003 Newsletter)
Sport fishermen and environmentalists have been allies for decades in New Jersey. They've fought side by side on initiatives ranging from curbing ocean dumping to tagging striped bass to cleaning up the Hudson River. Lately, that alliance has fallen apart Recreational fishermen, weary of strict limits on what, when and how they can fish, resent environmentalists for trying to impose ever tougher regulations. Environmentalists say the state's sport fishery has grown greedy, and are joining commercial fishermen in trying to sabotage sound ocean management.
As he gutted bluefish on a dock near Sandy Hook last week, Capt. Fletcher Chayes cringed at the mere mention of environmentalists "They're whacking us," said Chayes, a lifelong fisherman and charter captain for the last five years. "We used to be on the same page with them, but they went extreme on us." Feelings were just as fervent out on the tip of Sandy Hook, where three water-oriented environmental groups share a headquarters on an old military base.
"Some fishermen want to go after the last fish in the last bit of clean water on Earth," said Andrew Willner, director of the New York-New Jersey Baykeeper, one of the groups.
Most recently, the two sides have clashed over the fishermen-driven effort to pass state and national laws prohibiting Marine Protected Areas – zones in which no one can extract anything from the ocean. Environmentalists say such zones may be necessary in New Jersey and elsewhere in the future, and have vigorously fought the preemptive strike against them.
The debate comes on the heels of a prolonged disagreement over whether the state should build more artificial reefs out of old subway cars. Fishermen like the reefs because they attract fish; some environmentalists oppose them out of fear that remnants of asbestos from the cars could harm ocean life State officials crafted a compromise, but both groups remain bitter over the battle.
The fishermen-led Jersey Coast Anglers Association and the environmental organization Clean Ocean Action, which led the two opposing sides in the subway-car fight, had been members of each other's coalitions for years.
Pollution and overly aggressive commercial fishing vexed anglers and naturalists alike. They first joined forces in the 1970s to restrict foreign fishing vessels. They worked in the 1980s to impose quotas on domestic fishing companies
In New Jersey, for example, anglers and environmentalists lobbied together to force the modernization of sewage plants in Philadelphia and Camden that had left the Delaware River oxygen-depleted and empty of striped bass.
"Ten years ago, the label 'environmentalist' meant you supported reasonable conservation limits," said Herb Moore Jr., director of government affairs for the New Gretna-based Recreational Fishing Alliance. "It's only been the past couple of years, when fishermen have seen these campaigns to take away their fishing rights, that they've began to distance themselves even from the term."
Tom Fote, legislative chairman of the Jersey Coast Anglers Association, said a deluge of money for environmental groups from private foundations in the 1990s empowered them to involve themselves in fisheries management, a field Fote said they do not understand well. "If the money's there, you have to find causes to fight for," Fote said.
Fishermen live with regulations dictating when they can fish, what type of hook they can use, how many of certain species they can keep and how large the keepers have to be. Marine Protected Areas -- a network of which was recently created around California's Channel Islands -- are the last straw, Fote said.
Amid a lobbying push by fishing groups, bills have been introduced in Congress and in several states, including New Jersey, to ban reserves unless there is sound scientific evidence proving fishermen are doing the damage The New Jersey bill is the furthest along, though it still faces major obstacles. Environmentalists have launched a campaign opposing it, and some recreational fishing groups -- including the Jersey Coast Anglers Association -- oppose amendments to an Assembly version that would help commercial fishermen.
Generally, though, the recreational fishing community -- including anglers, boat builders, tackle manufacturers, boat retailers, engine companies, bait shops, marinas and charter captains -- sees Marine Protected Areas as a looming threat to its way of life.
"Environmentalists lump grandpa and grandson with rod and reel in the same category as a 60-foot trawler dragging a huge net across the bottom," Moore said.
Willner countered that reserves may be a crucial tool to restore polluted water bodies. Recent advisories against fishing parts of the Hudson River and the Newark Bay, which have served as de facto reserves, have resulted in extraordinary productivity in the bays of New York Harbor, Willner said
More broadly, Willner said fishermen have in many ways benefited disproportionately from the cooperation between environmentalists and anglers over the years, and should think twice before tossing that friendship aside
In the past, environmentalists have eagerly adopted causes proposed by fishermen, such as certain habitat restoration projects and efforts to locate pollution-discharge points, Willner said. His group has even hosted fishing tournaments, he said, while fishermen have been less forthcoming.
"We don't see a lot of fishermen at hearings on dredge permits, at hearings about bad land-use proposals in the rivers and the bays," Willner said. "If we want to get into mud slinging, I think we have just as much mud."
Regarding the widening divide between them, both sides agree on two things -- it will limit their effectiveness in lobbying for the many causes on which they agree, and it will not be easy to overcome.
"It's going to be hard to forget this," Moore said. "And that's unfortunate, because we do have a lot of common issues and common interests."
Alexander Lane covers the environment. He can be reached at alane@starledger.com or (973) 392-1790.