The more we screw with our coastal environment, the greater chance of hurting the fragile fishing and undersea world of South Jersey. Nobody knows this better than Ventnor’s Mike Shepherd.
Saturday mornings at 7a on WOND Radio, ‘Shep on Fishing’ covers the latest in fishing news. The good, bad & ugly.
- Nonsensical fishing regulations
- Reduced fishing access points
- Harmful dredging and beach replenishment
- Offshore wind turbines
Tom Fote is always a great guest on the SHEP ON FISHING show. Fote represents recreational anglers. Cares about commercial fishermen too. Wants fairness in fisheries management. Fote is from the Jersey Coast Anglers Association. Give a listen >
- Jersey Coast Anglers Association. Fote is the full-time legislative chairman.
- Fote opened what was once, a closed-door process. Opened participation to all fishermen.
- Serves on numerous boards and commissions involved with protecting the marine environment.
- Coalition builder. Bringing environmentalists, commercial and recreational fishermen together.
Commercial and recreational fishing. Big economic engines that were supposed to boost region’s diversification plans.
Over-development on every square inch of Absecon Island.
The industrialization of our shores. Outfall sewer pipes, man-made dunes, dredging, offshore wind turbines.
Congress needs to allocate money for better fishery research. Agencies like NJ Fish & Wildlife are not helping.
What’s the economic impact on South Jersey? Will NJ Congressman Jeff Van Drew step up to the plate and help local fishermen? Fishing was not a top priority for the former NJ Congressman, Frank LoBiondo.
LoBiondo was more of a dredging & dune building guy. That’s where the big money is. Especially if you have a sweet, 50 year deal in place.
Dredging can be described as scraping the sea bottom to suck up the sand. It’s undersea strip-mining, just offshore. This activity literally destroys critical ecosystems. Negatively affects nourishment (bait fish) within the food chain.
Making things worse. The threat of offshore wind turbines along the South Jersey coast. A record-breaking forest of 850 ft tall wind turbines. All view-able from the beach? ORSTED Wind and NJ not telling residents how close these turbines will be to shore. Local politicians and media dorks too afraid to ask.
South Jersey waters will act as a wind power petri dish for companies like ORSTED.
New Jersey residents sitting idly by as their pristine beaches and waters are industrialized.
Power sub-stations and hundreds of miles of undersea cabling. Industrial hardware that leaks electromagnetic waves of some sort. Could screw up migration of various marine species. Will clam draggers get caught? How close can commercial fishermen get to the turbines? And how about all that bird kill?
Mortality catch and release. By forcing throwbacks, we’re hurting fish stocks. Large percentage of throwbacks…. die.
NJ DEP & ACOE are destroying offshore lumps. Using that environmentally critical sand for beach replenishment and non-critical dune building.
Recreational fishermen not even catching current maximum allowed. Data shows that summer flounder was not over-fished. Over-fishing was not taking place.
Recreational numbers need to be more accurate. Flaws found in how data was interpreted. Striped Bass: A complete disregard for data in reference to ‘hook and release’ mortality.
Habitat issues contribute to the problem. Loss of habitat. Reductions of inshore fisheries in New Jersey. Beach replenishment is negative factor.
A 25% reduction in 2018. Then another 18% reduction? Another reduction will only penalize recreational anglers who simply want to take home a fish to eat.
Presumption: reduction in Striped Bass catch in 2020. This will increase hook & release mortality rate. Throwbacks that die.
Poor marketing and awareness of the problem. Local media does little to cover and defend one of NJ’s top industries.
800,000 anglers in New Jersey. Need to find ways to keep these anglers fishing in NJ.
Save the bait fish habitats to promote more inshore fisheries.
Hi Shep,
We may have met a long time ago, my uncle , Walter Frank (Outdoor Sportsman column,
Home News) fished and covered your part of the State many times.
I have been trying discredit these wind turbine projects through the news. Hit the wall,
Asbury Park Press very bigoted (I can explain later), Van Drew called, but evaporated. I
prepared draft environmental critique regarding a large up-state NY turbine project. I have the
education and experience to challenge these behemoth winged trolls on a scientific and public policy basis. I would like to send my letter as an attachment. I may have some changes now that
Down Beach has made it clear where Van Drew is coming from.
Thank you.
Francis Donohue, Port Norris