Q & A Release #3: Ocean Reef Economics and Public Access
Thank you for your interest in learning more about how New Jersey’s ocean reefs are being used inappropriately.
It’s important to realize that as with public parks, the ocean reefs belong to all of us – regardless of whether or not we use them. Therefore, it is wrong for commercial interests to profit from a public trust (our State-built reefs) while restricting public access. Just as it would be wrong for a business to establish a manufacturing plant on a public park and restrict public access.
You can use the link that follows to send a prewritten letter requesting that bill A-1152 be heard in the Assembly, which allows for public access (hook and line, and spear fishing) to ocean reefs as intended by the Federal Sport Fish Restoration Program. "Give Us Back Our Reefs!
http://capwiz.com/njoutdooralliance/issues/alert/?alertid=36620501&PROCESS=Take+ActionQ) What is the goal of New Jersey's Reef Program?
A) NJ's ocean reefs are similar to public parks; open to everyone's use, as long as they are used with the appropriate fishing gear. According to the Federal Sport Fish Restoration Program the appropriate fishing gear is hook and line, and spear. This type of gear does not impede access for those who want to use the reefs, as do commercial fixed (traps) gear.
The goal of New Jersey's Reef Program, according to the State's Reef Management Plan, is as follows: "Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) goal in both constructing and managing reefs is to spread the benefits of the reefs among as many people as possible. To accomplish this goal, DEP may have to restrict or discourage uses of reefs that foster an inequitable share of either the fisheries resources or access to the resource being taken or dominated by a small group of people."
There are less than 20 trappers now dominating reefs, and they restrict public access by setting thousands of traps tethered to miles of connecting ground ropes.
Q) How valuable are ocean reefs to NJ's recreational fishing industry?
A) According to a national survey, New Jersey's recreational marine fishing industry adds approximately $1.3 billion annually to the state's economy, which provides employment to 10,000 people and generates more than $100 million in state sales taxes.
We do not have an exact percentage of the amount that reefs contribute to $1.3 billion total, but reefs are critical to the total catch of party boats, charter boats and private boat anglers. In fact, a DEP study from 2000 established that recreational anglers caught over 4.7 million fish on NJ reefs. This catch represents 18 percent of the total recreational catch in all of the State's salt waters. If we were to view the productivity of reefs in comparison to the total industry at a proportion similar to the catch, the economic impact is potentially upwards of $200 million annually.
Q) How important are reefs to scuba divers in New Jersey?
A) During the past 25 years more than 170 ships and barges of all types, from 44-foot patrol boats to 460-foot Navy ships, have been sunk on New Jersey reefs. Most scuba diving is focused on thousands of wrecks scattered along the Jersey coast. In 2000, the DEP found that 62 percent of private boat dive trips and 33 percent of all charter trips were on reefs. The advantage of diving reefs is that there are many wrecks and other structures in confined areas, which makes for easier access.
Q) Why is it important to eliminate traps from reefs as compared to other ocean areas?
A) Outside of coastal bays and the proximity of inlets, recreational fishing activity is far more concentrated on reef sites than other areas of the ocean. Individual reef sites often have hundreds of recreational boats fishing on them. To accommodate as many boats as possible, reef structures are spread out to form drift fishing areas. Large numbers of trap lines, stretched across reef sites, interfere with drift fishing by snagging rigs and anchors. This not only discourages use of the reefs but is also costly to recreational users because of the amount of gear that is lost. It is also the recreational user that pays for the reefs through an excise tax on recreational gear..
(NOTE: Answers provided by Bill Figley, retired Coordinator, NJ Artificial Reef Program and Anthony Mauro, Chair, New Jersey Outdoor Alliance)
Also, please...
Join "Reef Rescue" in PROTEST to...
Give Us Back Our Reefs!
When:
April 9, 2011
April 23, 2011
April 30, 2011 - This date will end with a rally!
Time: 10:00 am
Where:
Legislative Office, District 1
21 North Main Street
Cape May Court House, NJ 08210
NJOA (CF) Council members supporting "Traps Off the Reefs" are:
- New Jersey Outdoor Alliance
- Reef Rescue
- NJ Council of Diving Clubs
- Jersey Coast Anglers Association
- NJ Trout Unlimited
- NJ Beach Buggy Association
- Hudson River Fishermen's Association
- Greater Point Pleasant Charter Boat Association
- Jersey Coast Shark Anglers
- Cape May County Party & Charter Boat Association
- NJ State Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs
- Hi-Mar Striper Club
Non Council Members supporting "Traps Off the Reefs":
- Saltwater Anglers of Bergen County
- The Regency Fishing Club
- Manasquan Fishing Club
- Sunrise Bay Anglers Fishing Club
- There are additional saltwater fishing, freshwater fishing, hunting and conservation groups that support "Traps Off the Reefs." The list will be updated on an ongoing basis.
Anthony P. Mauro, Sr
Chair
New Jersey Outdoor Alliance
New Jersey Outdoor Alliance Conservation Foundation
New Jersey Outdoor Alliance Environmental Projects
"Preservation through conservation"
JOIN NJOA:
http://www.njoutdooralliance.org/support/njoa.html Officers: Ed Markowski, Captain Pete Grimbilas, Jerry Natale, Len Wolgast, PhD., Anthony Mauro
