Public Trust and Public Access - Fishermen vs Homeowner Rights

[DarkSkies]

I have been meaning to speak on this issue for a while now.

Behavior I saw last weekend in Ocean County crystallized my thinking to finally start this topic of discussion.
Some of the things I witnessed were so disrespectful... I was sick to my stomach.

Normally I may run into some of these idiots maybe once a week.
They either just don't care, or presume that their selfish needs should come before anyone else's.
On Saturday and Sunday, it seems like every place I stopped at had some sort of disrespect toward Property Owners going on.

[DarkSkies]

I have been fighting for the tenets of the Public Trust Doctrine, and fighting hard for fishermen access, for the last 15 years.
I have spent thousands of dollars of my own personal funds to do this, never needing to be patted on the back....
but knowing that what I was doing was fighting for future fishermen.....and anyone I know, who wants to believe in something that is good and just.

After seeing some of the behavior.... and extensive conversations with some homeowners who have just had it, I have finally come to realize there is a rising tide of disrespectfulness and arrogance out there.
I am conflicted.... because honestly I don't know if I can fight for fishermen access anymore.....
not when the ranks of the disrespectful and selfish fishermen seem to be growing.

I don't expect this thread to change behavior much, in fact I know it won't.

I do want to go on record here as predicting that we will lose acess to several places that are now accessible. This will happen this year and next year as well.

I have always been very outspoken out there..... and never afraid to confront someone who is doing something disrespectful to fish or to homeowners. The tide seems to be changing. The numerous incidents I saw....convinced me that they are not just isolated incidents anymore. There seems to be a self-righteous group of fishermen who feel that the Public Trust Doctrine gives them carte blanche permission to behave however they want when they are fishing areas that adjoin/near to private property.

I am not asking fishermen to confront people like this... nor would I advocate that.

But I AM asking ALL fishermen out there to look inside themselves and ask .......why is it fair that we will lose access due to this terrible behavior?

The folks who will be hurt most of all... Are the old-timers and disabled fishermen I know .....who cannot walk that far to have fishing access.

When you see someone doing something out there that is disrespectful towards property owners, if you don't want to confront them......
please call the police and detail the activities - group description and their vehicle license plate numbers.

I fully expect that we will lose access regardless, because some of the stories I am hearing are just too much to comprehend.
In the next few months, I will detail some of the stories of disrespect being related to me by homeowners.

If you folks have any comments... Or anything to share as well... Please feel free.

Thanks

[finchaser]

He's back trying to make the NY times best seller list

[DarkSkies]

And The Grouchy bastard surfaces once again! :moon::kiss:
I'll retract every word I said if you can prove that it's not true.

But you know it is true..... because some of the stories that will be related here will be some of yours.
I have been all over the coast chasing migrating striped bass. huge patches of the Long Island Sound are inaccessible to fishing from land because towns have decreed parking restrictions.

Similar restrictions in the most wealthy Shore areas in Rhode Island.
I guarantee you by the end of the year, we will have some of those parking restrictions in some Key fishing areas in New Jersey.

That's too bad.....because if people were more concerned.... maybe something could have been done about it.
But it won't...apathy reigns supreme....
However, when the access is lost there will be dozens of threads and wailing rants and teeth- grinding about "why or how" this could have happened.

[DarkSkies]

He's back trying to make the NY times best seller list

Aren't you supposed to be out fishing somewhere right now?
rumor has it there are a few small fish in the finchaser fish pond.
You retired grouchy bastid. :HappyWave:

Less talking, more fishing.

[captnemo]

I might be able to shed some light on that. Not as a homeowner but as a boat owner. A while ago our marina owner let some folks in fishing at night because they weren't harming anything. then some of us than we had Nicks and scratches on our boats. Turns out they were snagging bunker with weighted bunker hooks and when they missed the water the hooks would hit our gel coat. So they installed gated doors with combinations and signs no trespassing. Now I don't trust anyone around my boat at all and would want them to be fully prosecuted for trespassing.

[finchaser]

Aren't you supposed to be out fishing somewhere right now?
rumor has it there are a few small fish in the finchaser fish pond.
You retired grouchy bastid. :HappyWave:

Less talking, more fishing.

I was complimenting you

[seamonkey]

Fish some bulkheads in the dead of night. Never dis respected property owners. That would be stupid. What the heck is wrong with these people?

[7deadlyplugs]

Damn shame

[jigfreak]

Deport half of the immigrants here under Obama back to their countries and you would not have half of the problems we have now. My .02

[fishinmission78]

I have seen a lot of this stuff too. Most of the guys I've seen doing it were white guys with Vanstalls. The immigrants do their share sometimes but that's mostly the bait boxes.

[fishinmission78]

Fish some bulkheads in the dead of night. Never dis respected property owners. That would be stupid. What the heck is wrong with these people?
The new generation of fishermen like to fish together
3 to 4 at a time. Like a bunch of middle-aged ladies going out for tea.

[clamchucker]

Agree with what was said. The way our parents raised us we would never think of treating property of others pooirly. We were also taught not to touch something that didn't belong to us. Different generations.