By Gary Caputi
(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association May 1995 Newsletter)
One of the biggest problems we’re experiencing here in the Garden State with regard to enforcement of marine fisheries laws, especially those pertaining to commercial fishing regulations, is that when violators are caught, local judges take the seriousness of their offenses lightly and let them off with little more than a slap on the wrist. Two glaring examples have taken place in the past few months.
We read with interest how the Division of Fish & Game mounted a combined enforcement operation with personnel from the Coast Guard to detect and arrest boats for illegally dragging fluke in Sandy Hook and Raritan Bays at night. The operation cost the tax payers a few thousand dollars and, to no one’s surprise, caught a boat from Belford in the act. The boat’s master cut loose his gear once he realized he was about to be boarded, in an effort to avoid being caught, but the enforcement officers got them dead to rights and recovered the abandoned gear. The violation was flagrant and the attitude of the captain and crew was "oh hum" about the whole thing. It was not the first time they were caught violating fisheries laws. When the case went to court, a judge with no idea of the damage these boats have been doing to important public resources let the skipper off with an $800 fine and then ordered the return of the very gear the boat cut loose and the enforcement officers recovered in their attempt to avoid capture. The catch was worth thousands, the fine a mere cost of doing business. Do you think this captain and crew have been deterred from mounting similar illegal fishing operations? No, neither does one alert state assemblyman.
More recently, a notorious local gill netter who works areas of the central Jersey coast was observed and arrested for killing striped bass. This commercial netter is of the opinion that if he is not permitted to retain and sell the striped bass he brings up alive in his nets, he will take it upon himself to kill every bass with a few shots to the head with a billy before returning them to the water. When finally captured, he was unrepentant, and when brought to court, his fine was again, nothing more than a slap on the wrist. No loss of fishing privileges, no loss of gear, just a small fine. What a wonderful deterrent for future instances of abuse by commercial fishermen. Why doesn’t the judge just tell him to go out and do it again. It’s just a few hundred bass a week, a few thousand a season with great value to businesses in the sport fishing industry that is so important to this state’s economy.
Well, Assemblyman Ernest L. Oros (19th District), wants to change all this and put some teeth in fisheries enforcement and is introducing legislation to that affect. He recently sent a draft version of his bill (A-2683) to JCAA for review and comment. Basically, the bill calls for the civil forfeiture of any apparatus (gear) used in the illegal taking of fish within state waters. JCAA believes that this measure is not only necessary, but long overdue.
Here is the key language in the bill. All constables, sheriffs, conservation officers, fish and game wardens and protectors shall, and any other person may, seize and secure seine, gill, drift, anchor or sink net, trawl or dragger gear, fixed net, trap, pot, pound, set line, fyke, weir or other apparatus used for the illegal taking of fish, and shall immediately thereafter institute a proceeding for the confiscation thereof in the Superior Court or in the municipal court within the jurisdiction of which the seizure is made. Upon finding a violation as prescribed in this section, the court shall direct confiscation and forfeiture of (same) to the division’s use, which division may dispose of at its discretion.
JCAA would like to applaud Assemblyman Oros for realizing that our marine fisheries are truly valuable public resources and those who plunder those resources illegally must pay a price commensurate with the damage they inflict. An $800 fine for a boat that has just taken an illegal catch of fluke worth thousands of dollars is simply a cost of doing business. We would really like to see even tougher action taken including catch confiscation, permit sanctions and, in the case of repeat offenders, permit forfeitures, but this is an important step in the right direction and our hats off to Assemblyman Oros.
An invitation was extended to Assemblyman Oros and his chief of staff, Andrew Voros, to attend an upcoming JCAA general meeting to discuss this and other initiatives concerning our marine fisheries and environmental issues. We will await his reply. In the meantime, JCAA members and people reading this newsletter are encouraged to write or call their representative in the state assembly to ask them to support A-2683. It’s about time we gave our fisheries enforcement personnel some laws with punishments severe enough to deter fishermen from breaking the law and to ensure a reasonable punishment for those caught.