Quick Action by Congressman Smith and Mayor Reid Keeps Manasquan Inlet Open This Summer

Pt. Pleasant Beach officials; Councilman Andy Cortes, Mayor Stephen Reid, Council President Bob Santanello meet with Congressman Chris Smith and Ray Bogan, legal counsel for the Marine Trades Association of New Jersey, Recreational Fishing Alliance, and United Boatmen of New Jersey, at the Manasquan Inlet. June 1, 1018

Quick action by Pt. Pleasant Beach Mayor Stephen Reid and Congressman Chris Smith will ensure that the Manasquan Inlet remains navigable for commercial and recreational marine traffic this summer.

Unexpected shoaling that threatens to block marine traffic has developed in the inlet since January when the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers performed their regularly scheduled survey.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Hey Frank, Where’s the $400 million? Will Anglers Have To Pay The Fee?

By Art Gallagher

Remember back in September when Frank Pallone held a press conference in Keyport to announce the $400 million he was bringing home to the bayshore with the Coastal Jobs Creation Act?  The Asbury Park Press covered it as if it were a done deal and Pallone was a hero.

In August Pallone told the NY Post’s Ken Moran that the bill would fund New Jersey’s recreational fishing registry, thereby preventing fisherman to have to pay a federal fee of $15-25 per year to fish in saltwater off New Jersey.

Well, here we are in December and there has been no movement on Pallone’s bill since July, two months before his press conference that impressed the Neptune Nudniks so much.

But the federal fee is coming, unless the New Jersey Senate passes S-1122, the companion version of which has already been passed by the Assembly, according to an Asbury Park Press piece that failed to mention the Pallone connection.

S1122, which is sponsored by Senators Jennifer Beck and Jeff Van Drew, would require the NJ DEP to set up a free state registery for recreational fisherman and to apply for “exempted state designation” so that NJ fisherman would not have to participate in or pay for the federal program. S1122 also allows the state to impose a state saltwater recreational fishing license, which is currently prohibited.

According the the NJ Recreational Fishing Alliance, the bill has strong bi-partisan support, but Senator Robert Smith, D-Middlesex, Chairman of the Senate Environment Committee won’t release the bill for a vote by the full Senate because the DEP does not want to create the state registery.

RFA makes their case for the bill, including an ecomomic impact analysis here.

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Sipprelle Earns Endorsement of Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA)

Princeton, October 13, 2010 – Calling incumbent Congressman Rush Holt (NJ-12) a “disaster” on issues affecting saltwater fishermen, the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) formally endorsed challenger Scott Sipprelle for Congress in the 12th District.

The RFA has a history of endorsing both Republicans and Democrats running for office.

“We are proud to Scott Sipprelle for Congress in New Jersey’s 12th District,” said RFA Executive Director Jim Donofrio. “Congressman Holt has been a disaster for anyone who fishes in saltwater and the small business owners who makes their living off of the sport fishing industry. Frankly, Congressman Holt has been MIA on all of our fishery and coastal issues. In clear conflict with the district he is supposed to represent, Congressman Holt continually sides with the radical environmentalists whose mission it is infringe upon our rights as fishermen and small business owners.”

“I am humbled by the support I’ve received from fisherman and sportsmen all across Central Jersey,” said Sipprelle, who called the RFA’s endorsement “critical” in Monmouth County. “As a Congressman, I pledge to recognize the importance of my constituents who fish and the small businesses they support. I look forward to working with respected organizations like the RFA to manage our nations’ fisheries with sound science, support reforming arbitrary fishing laws, and backing candidates for the Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council that best represent the interests of our fishing community and their businesses.”

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