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by Tom Siciliano
(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association November 2003 Newsletter)
The Annual JCAA Sportsperson-of-the-Year Award Dinner/Dance is almost upon us. Have you gotten your tickets yet? The date is November 9 from 4:00 – 9:00 p.m. at Crystal Point Yacht Club.
We have three nominees for sportsperson of the year and nominations will be taken from the floor at the JCAA meeting on October 28th. The three nominations that have been received so far for the sportsperson-of-the-year award are
Click on these links to read the nominations text.
Your club has a vote so make sure you come to the regular monthly meeting to cast your club’s vote and pick up the tickets for your club. Each JCAA member club should send their President and Vice President to this event, and if your club could fill out a table of ten the tickets would be $50 each. Some clubs sponsor the President and offer reduced ticket prices for the members who would like to attend. For instance, my club, the Salt Water Anglers of Bergen County, picks up $25 of the ticket price so that we fill a table of 10 Additional information on the dinner is provided elsewhere in the newsletter.
Where do the volunteers who work on your behalf spend their time? What issues important to the anglers of New Jersey are they working on?
Fishing access is always an important aspect of what the JCAA does. Recently there was an attempt in Brigantine to prohibit fishing because of potential conflicts with surfers and beachgoers. The Brigantine Town Council wanted to stop fishing in a prime area and had a first reading of an ordinance that would have prohibited fishing in this particular area. The JCAA put the word out to make sure there would be enough anglers at the meeting where the vote was to take place to stop this attempt at limiting your angling access. Maybe you will never fish down at Brigantine but all the anglers of the state would have been affected if this effort had been successful. It would have set a bad precedent and would have had long-term effects.
On a positive note, a new fishing opportunity is being made available. The plans are underway for a new Mantoloking Bridge joining Brick to the barrier island at Mantoloking. The plans are to leave 150 feet of the old bridge in place to be used as a fishing pier. This is great as there is great fishing by the Mantoloking Bridge for weakfish, stripers, fluke and flounder. The unfortunate part of this is that the plans call for only four parking spaces and one of those will be for the bridge tender. There are also plans for the redevelopment of Traders Cove. If that development proceeds, one of the must-have criteria is for additional public access and parking and the JCAA will work for you to make sure that adequate additional opportunity is included.
The boat and sportsman show season will soon be upon us and the JCAA could use you as a volunteer to help man our booth at these shows. Our ability to attend these shows is limited only by the number of volunteers we can get to work at the shows. It is a great opportunity for you to learn more about the JCAA and meet lots of people. The shows usually start on a Thursday or Friday and go through the weekend. The hardest time is filling the weekday slots, as most of the JCAA volunteers have to work. If you are retired or can take some time off work and would like to help, please give Mark Taylor a call at 732-929-2591 and let him know you are interested in helping. It also is a great way to see the shows when they are less crowded.
How else can you help the JCAA? We need assistance in the distribution of the monthly newsletter. Do you have a favorite tackle shop that you frequent? Who doesn’t? Do they have the free JCAA newsletter on display every month? Ask your club representative to bring you 10 – 20 – or 50 copies for you to distribute. This would be a great help and insure that more anglers in the state find out what is happening on the fisheries management front.
Do you love surf fishing? Would you like to encourage families to participate in this great sport? We are looking for a new Chairman for the annual Governor’s Surf Tournament. Paul Smith has been the Chairman for 12 years and has told us he will step aside. The plans are in place. Paul has developed a system over the years but now we need someone to oversee the implementation for the 13th annual tournament in 2004. Are you ready to step in and give something back to the sport you love?
The election is coming up fast and there are three public questions, which you should become familiar with and vote on. We encourage you to vote YES on Question 1, which calls for increased funding for open space. YES on Question 2 that will expand the funding for the cleanup of hazardous waste and decide for yourself on Question 3 a bond for dam repair and low interest loans.
The JCAA fully supports the Governor on these issues and they are the right things to do.