By Kirk Moore • TOMS RIVER BUREAU • June 21, 2008
POINT PLEASANT — On the fuel dock at Clark's Landing Marina, the pump numbers whirled as the crew of the Lady Jane took on 250 gallons of diesel at $4.57 a gallon, preparing to chase sharks offshore in the annual Mako Mania tournament.
"A lot of people aren't even putting their boats in the water this year," said fisherman Bill Tallman of Waretown. To make the most of their fuel bill, the Lady Jane anglers said they had entered in not one but two shark tournaments this weekend.
"It's expensive," said boat owner Mark Grek of Blackwood, "but you've got to have fun."
Fuel costs are hitting marine interests hard, magnifying the effects of tightened fishing regulations.
"Fuel was never a significant part of our business until the last couple of years. It was just a cost that went up and down, like bait, and you dealt with it. Now it's the most significant cost of our business," said John Williams of Brielle, a 25-year charter captain on the Manasquan River.
"It's been devastating, up and down the river," said Peter Grimbilas of the Greater Point Pleasant Charter Boat Association. "They are way down in the number of charters."
A trip 80 miles east to the Hudson Canyon — an undersea gorge that harbors tuna and marlin — costs an additional $1,000 to $1,500 now for fuel costs compared with last year, Grimbilas estimated.
"It can cost $5,000 now for a canyon trip, not including some of the extras like tips" for the crew, he said.
Tough to book trips
It's difficult for captains who book trips far in advance, said Ron Braen, who runs the Miss Michele III out of Point Pleasant Beach and often takes corporate and institutional charter groups of 10 to 60.
"I'm stuck, because my pricing went out in December. I'm booked from January and February with contracts. Now fuel has shot up. The only place it comes from is my pocket," he said.
"It's become so restrictive that some captains are not going as far to fish," Grimbilas said.
Charter captains are among recreational groups pressing the state to make all its artificial reefs off-limits to commercial fishing traps, and the fuel crisis "is one reason why these reefs are so important to us," he said.
Higher than gasoline
Both road and marine diesel prices are substantially higher than gasoline because of global demand, and it's likely diesel will remain 40 cents to 70 cents more expensive per gallon through 2009, said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service in Wall.
"It has to do with the global situation, the perception that diesel is the growth product," said Kloza, who tracks petroleum market trends. "We import a lot of gasoline, but we've been a consistent exporter" of diesel.
"We've cut our own gasoline consumption to where we use one out of every five gallons," but Europe's vehicle fleet is now about 55 percent diesel, and growing markets such as South America pay $4.50 wholesale for diesel, a 20-cent premium over North American wholesale prices, Kloza said.
So that higher diesel price compared to gasoline "isn't an aberration," he said. "I look forward through 2009, and it's pretty much a relationship."
More anchoring out
"People are still going out. They're not running (under way) as much. They're anchoring out," said Michael Longhi, business manager at Clark's Landing. "They're going to F Cove (near the former Trader's Cove Marina in Brick) or Treasure Island" in the Manasquan, Longhi said.
"There's a lot of people running closer distances. When the weather forecasts are a little marginal, they're staying home. You try to make every day count," said Doug Thorsen of Lebanon Township, as he prepared fishing rods on his boat Luhred Offshore.
"It's a great pastime, especially for families. It's an expensive hobby to begin with. But when it becomes unaffordable and they can't pay their bills, what are they going to do?" Thorsen said. "We've been through these fuel crunches before. We can only hope this one works out."
Crippling the industry
"Fuel is absolutely crippling the industry. It's affecting both at the retail sales levels, and by forcing people to back off on fishing," said James Donofrio, executive director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, an advocacy group for anglers and support businesses. "We're appealing to the U.S. Congress to get things fixed. . . . This is the greatest national resource crisis yet of our century."
There's a danger that prolonged high fuel costs could permanently downsize the American boatbuilding industry, Donofrio said. Last year, Connecticut-based Albin Marine, a century-old manufacturer of popular mid-sized fishing and cruising boats, closed its Rhode Island production facility, citing the faltering economy and rising oil prices, and sold its land to developers.
"They're doing layoffs, they're shutting boatbuilding down," Donofrio said of the industry. "It's one of the few American industries that hasn't been outsourced or offshored to Asia. But if these companies have to shut down now because of high petroleum prices, it's likely you will see that manufacturing re-emerge in another part of the world."
Worse in Florida
While times are getting tough in New Jersey, "it's worse in Florida," said Williams, who runs charters there for three months every winter. Typically he will book 35 Florida trips, but Williams said he got only 10 last season.
"South coast Florida is in a deep, deep recession," he said. "One charter captain had to sell his boat to get his daughter into college."
Grimbilas said the smaller-than-usual crowd at Clark's Friday evening was another sign of those mounting costs.
"A good barometer will be tonight," Grimbilas said, as shark hunters prepared for their captains' meeting. "Last year we sold out at 300 boats. Figure the average is five fishermen per boat; that's 1,500 people we brought down for the weekend. Our gut feeling is it will be off about 20 percent, based on what we've heard from other tournaments."
