Article: Reef relief may soon be on the horizon

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Reef relief may soon be on the horizon

Kean bill, state Senate measure to ban traps nearing votes

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/21/07
BY JOHN GEISER
CORRESPONDENT

The state Legislature is expected to provide help soon for beleaguered recreational fishermen looking for places to fish.

Assemblyman Sean Kean, R-Monmouth, announced Monday night that a bipartisan effort is gaining momentum to restore full angling access to the state's artificial reefs by prohibiting commercial traps on the sites.

"The bill was passed out of the Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee in May, and will come before the Senate Environment Committee Oct. 4," he said. "We are confident that this bill will be on the governor's desk by the end of the year."

Kean said he is pleased that the bill (A-3986) he introduced Feb. 22 this year is being supported by both parties as a measure that will benefit the angling public, and is above partisan politics.

The bill was passed by the Assembly committee by a 4-1 vote May 21 and sent to the full Assembly for action.

A companion bill (S-2635) was introduced in the Senate by Sen. James J. McCullough, R-Cape May, on May 10, and is awaiting action by the Senate Environment Committee.

James A. Donofrio, executive director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, praised the legislators in both parties who have recognized the importance of the state's artificial reefs to recreational fishing.

"I can't say enough about the help we've gotten from Senate President (Richard J.) Codey on this legislation," he said. "It was imperative that we got a Senate Environment Committee hearing, and Mr. Codey and committee chairman Bob Smith (D-Middlesex), have really come through on this."

Donofrio said the artificial reefs along the coast of New Jersey were paid for by recreational anglers through donations and money from excise taxes on recreational fishing tackle.

"The domination of these reefs by commercial fishing gear is contrary to the intent of the artificial reef program, and an affront to the anglers who have spent so much of their time, effort and money to build these fishing grounds," he said.

The state Division of Fish and Wildlife has attempted to placate the handful of commercial fishermen who have set gear on the reefs by offering a compromise plan in which the recreational community could use the reefs six months a year and the commercial sector the remaining half of the year.

"There is no compromise on this," Donofrio said. "These reefs were built for the use of thousands of hook-and-line fishermen and divers only, not for a handful of commercial fishermen to monopolize."

Donofrio said the RFA is not an anti-commercial organization, but it was created and remains dedicated to protecting the interests of recreational anglers.

"This reef controversy is a primary example of why we exist," he said. "Twenty percent of all of the fish caught and landed recreationally in New Jersey come from artificial reefs. We can't give this up to a few commercial fishermen, who, by the way, have the rest of the Atlantic Ocean to fish in.

"We have no problem with commercial fishermen setting lobster gear or fish pots on the Klondike Banks or England Banks or all of the other places they fished before the artificial reefs were built," he said. "We just don't want to be forced off the reefs that we paid for."

Greg Hueth, president of the Shark River Surf Anglers, which hosted, along with the RFA, the town meeting Monday night in Belmar to address both the problems on the reefs, and the crises in the blackfish and fluke fisheries, said the feelings of the roughly 400 people who attended were clear.

"No one there supported having the traps on the reefs or any form of compromise on this issue," he said. "There are other places for them to set their gear, not come in and destroy the opportunities that recreational fishermen created and paid for."

Hueth said he was particularly annoyed with the newspaper coverage of the issue.

"A front page story on the day the Senate Environment Committee was originally scheduled to hear the Senate reef bill," he said. "The story made it sound as if people weren't going to be able to buy lobsters in a seafood restaurant because of us wanting to get the pots off the reefs.

"I have nothing against commercial fishermen, but give us a break," he said. "We're only asking for the chance to fish on the reefs we built. This is only a tiny fraction of the ocean that commercial fishermen can use."

The reef system actually includes 15 sites with potential coverage of 25 square miles of ocean bottom. Two of these sites — the Sandy Hook Artificial Reef and the Axel Carlson Artificial Reef — actually lie within state waters and consist of 1.4 square miles and 4 square miles, respectively.

The remaining 13 sites are in federal waters or more than three miles offshore. The two reefs farthest offshore are the Deepwater Artificial Reef, which is 23 miles off the coast of Cape May, and the Shark River Artificial Reef, which is 14.8 miles offshore of Bay Head.

The state's reef plan, which began in 1984, was designed to spread the reefs out so that at least two sites were within easy boat range of each of the state's ocean inlets. Reef building prior to that was done privately beginning in the 1960s and 1970s.

The state plan resulted in a total of 25 square miles of potential reef coverage out of 2,760 square miles of a band of ocean bottom along the coast containing all reefs, and 5.4 square miles of the ocean floor within the 360 square miles of state waters along the coast.

Bill Figley, former reef coordinator for the state Department of Environmental Protection and now retired, is concerned about the vast amount of commercial gear on the artificial reefs.

He told anglers at Monday's meeting that New Jersey has the largest and most active artificial reef system in the nation, and it is a vital part of the recreational fishery in the state.

"Twenty percent of all fish caught recreationally by New Jersey fishermen fishing from the Hudson Canyon to the back bays are taken on artificial reefs," he said.

Figley led the reef-building program from 1984 through 2006, and under his direction the system grew to the point where it now supports a large percentage of the inshore wreck fishery.

"Despite what you might read in the newspapers, this system was built with federal aid to sportfish money — excise taxes — and numerous contributions from sport fishing clubs and organizations," he said. "We've built 4,000 reefs (individual reefs within the reef sites) since 1984 and they were built for the use of recreational anglers and divers.

"According to the state's reef plan and its state and federal reef permits, the purpose of this effort is to enhance marine habitats and to create fishing grounds for anglers and underwater attractions for scuba divers," he emphasized.

"The reefs are designed for the general fishing public, and are open to everyone to use — residents and non-residents," he said. "They are designed for hook-and-line fishing."

Figley explained that the idea behind the reefs was to create spots where the average angler, a person without sophisticated electronic gear and years of experience, could catch some fish.

"The reefs are designed so that precise navigating and anchoring are not necessary," he said. "Most reef sites are built as "drift fishing areas' where pieces of concrete, pipe or reef balls are dispersed on the sea floor, thus spreading out fish and anglers.

"Anglers only catch fish when their boat happens to drift over a small piece of structure," he said. "The concept is to give the fish a chance and provide moderate catch rates over the entire fishing season so that the maximum number of people have the opportunity to catch a few fish.

"The reefs are not designed to sustain large harvests by highly efficient commercial fishing gear," he said.

"A small number of fishermen are setting hundreds of traps on reef sites," he said. "They set their traps on long submerged lines and then leave for a week before returning to check them.

"The traps are usually left on the reefs for months at a time," he added. "The unattended trap lines snag anglers' hooks and anchors and even interfere when the state tries to put down more reef material on the site.

"Anglers don't catch lobster and since both lobster and fish move off the reefs, traps do not have to be set on reef sites to catch them," he said.

Figley explained that commercial fishermen hold special permits granted by state and federal governments that grant them exclusive rights to set traps on 8,000 square miles of the sea floor off New Jersey.

People who want to enter this fishery have to buy a permit from a commercial fisherman. They are no longer available directly from the government, he said.

"Reef sites occupy 0.3 percent of this area," Figley said. "Is it really unfair for this small amount of sea floor to be set aside for public angling and diving?

"Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia and New York have already designated their reefs "hook-and-line and spear only,' " he said. "Commercial fishermen are welcome to use the reefs, but they should have to use hook and line.

"The reefs were designed to be like public parks, open to everyone, as long as their activities conform to those for which the park was intended," he said. "In the case of the state's reefs, it is for angling and diving."

John Toth, president of the Jersey Coast Anglers Association, said the organization has been working with the New Jersey Council of Diving Clubs, the Recreational Fishing Alliance and Reef Rescue to get the pots off the reefs.

"Essentially these reefs, which have been built through the efforts of the recreational fishing community, have become dominated by a relatively small group of commercial fishermen who are taking fish 24 hours a day, seven days a week," he said.

Thomas P. Fote, legislative chairman of the JCAA, said Monday night that he was pleased to hear that the Senate Environment Committee had scheduled a hearing on the bill.

"Commercial pots on the reefs have been a problem for a long time, and it's good that both parties in the state Legislature are together on this," he said. "JCAA is firm in its position: we want the pots off the reefs. There is no way we can compromise."

[tunacity]

It's amazing what can be achieved when people get together and rally for a cause! Score one in the win column for this year.