Pots Off the Reefs - Update
Many of us anglers have signed petitions at club meetings, various fishing shows and have sent letters and emails and all sorts of communications to our legislators to get the traps off the Axel Carlson and Sandy Hook reefs that have made fishing for recreational anglers very difficult with our anchor lines and fishing lines being snagged on traps placed there by commercial anglers. The building of these reefs, largely paid for by recreational anglers, proved to be a great place for fish to habitat to protect them from predators. However, it did not take long for commercial anglers to recognize how productive they can be to harvest fish and they placed their traps all over these reefs and basically using the reefs for themselves and not for recreational anglers.
Trying to remove these traps has been a long and difficult process stretching roughly over10 years! While the NJOA and its membership organizations (including the JCAA) have lobbied in Trenton on this issue (myself testifying on behalf of the JCAA) at Assemblyman Nelson Albano's Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee on March 8, 2012., we have been stymied by commercial interests in trying to remove these traps though the legislative process. While the NJOA and the JCAA was able to have a majority of Senators and Assemblypersons to support the removal of these traps, Assembly Speakers (Roberts and Nelson) would not post the bills in the Assembly for a vote. (If a bill is not posted, it cannot be voted upon).
We were told by various legislators that in order to have these traps removed that we would have to accept some type of compromise solution to this issue by allowing some portion of the two reefs to be accessible to commercial trappers or otherwise any solution to remove the traps would not be legislatively possible. I have heard many anglers say to me at fishing trade shows "what, these traps are not off the reef already!" To resolve this ongoing issue that has continually resisted resolution, the NJOA agreed to a compromise solution for it.
This compromise solution was announced at the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council meeting on January 8, 2015. This compromise calls for a portion of the two reefs to be reserved for commercial trappers and the major areas of the two reefs for recreational anglers. As part of this compromise, the NJ DEP will build a new reef site for recreational anglers only to ensure "no net loss" of reef area for hook and line, and spear fishing." The issue of removing fixed gear on reefs located in federal waters off the New Jersey's coast continues to be pursued by the NJOA. DEP Commissioner Martin who has stated that the Christie Administration will petition the federal government to have fixed gear removed from these reefs in the near future.
This compromise (too lengthy for me to write up for this newsletter) will be available for public comment shortly and may be reviewed on the NJ DEP website at this link.
I will keep you updated on this reef issue as it hopefully becomes resolved to our satisfaction.
