Fishing reopened at Shoreham Beach !!!!

[rpsurf5]

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=990&page=17

Great news. This is a huge victory for fisherman everywhere !! Thanks to everyone who wrote letters, signed the petition, made phone calls and attending meetings. Each and everyone of these things made a huge difference.

[surferman]

Absolutely incredible!!! Great work rpsurf, Congratulations on a job well done to all of those involved!:clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping:

[Stripercoast1]

It is so nice to see a favorable outcome to this issue. All too often the big money gets the verdict. We have been doing battle with one individual here for years. He actually has the nerve to put up a fence across a publically owned fishermans access path. Several times the fence seemed to run down the road all on its own! Judging by the tire tracks in the dirt road, it must have been chasing a truck. The guy will call the local Barnies when he sees you fishing out front of his 10,000 square foot summer shack, and the Barnies will take his side almost every time. I however, quote the public trust doctrine, almost verbatum, and Barny goes for a donut with Andy. Seems if they can't prove you walked across his lawn, or down his driveway and across his porch, there is nothing they can do.

[bluesdude71]

Another win for the fishermen. Nice going guys. :clapping:

[7deadlyplugs]

I've been waiting to hear the good news! Nice job folks!

[DarkSkies]

The guy will call the local Barnies when he sees you fishing out front of his 10,000 square foot summer shack, and the Barnies will take his side almost every time. I however, quote the public trust doctrine, almost verbatum, and Barny goes for a donut with Andy.



"....quote the Public Trust Doctrine and Barny goes for a donut with Andy!" :clapping:
Well that does actually work sometimes. :thumbsup: It's fortunate he's not politically motivated enough to get together with the town leaders and slap parking restrictions on the whole area. That's how they get around it in NJ, and places in LI. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon13.gif






RP, thanks for posting, you and many others, NYCRF, Willie, Tom, Stan Hentschel, LIBBA, MSA, and a whole bunch of other guys got mad enough to say "I'm mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore!"

I feel each and every individual that went to those meetings, wrote letters, and applied pressure in the elections, made a collective difference by showing the town we CAN get along and unite when it's necessary, and we will do it again, as needed.

Congrats to all the guys who decided to take a little time out and lend a hand, no matter which way you helped, it all made a difference. :clapping::clapping: :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[rpsurf5]

"....quote the Public Trust Doctrine and Barny goes for a donut with Andy!" :clapping:
Well that does actually work sometimes. :thumbsup: It's fortunate he's not politically motivated enough to get together with the town leaders and slap parking restrictions on the whole area. That's how they get around it in NJ, and places in LI. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon13.gif






RP, thanks for posting, you and many others, NYCRF, Willie, Tom, Stan Hentschel, LIBBA, MSA, and a whole bunch of other guys got mad enough to say "I'm mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore!"

I feel each and every individual that went to those meetings, wrote letters, and applied pressure in the elections, made a collective difference by showing the town we CAN get along and unite when it's necessary, and we will do it again, as needed.

Congrats to all the guys who decided to take a little time out and lend a hand, no matter which way you helped, it all made a difference. :clapping::clapping: :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Thanks Rich ! Thanks to you also, your support is greatly appreciated. You really went the extra mile , literally and figuratively driving from Jersey all the way out to Rocky Point and Shoreham for the meetings !!! That was some effort and like you said, each and every person who did something made a difference.

[mick2360]

A nice effort. :clapping::clapping::clapping:

It should be noted that we can help ourselves by carrying out some of the fishing trash that thoughtless anglers leave. I don't understand why people do this but it is a factor in getting access shut down. :huh:

[rpsurf5]

I want to preface below post by letting everyone know Tom Farrell has been in contact with Town Supervisor Mark Lesko about this situation and Mark has promised to take care of this. As many know, Mark made promises before he was elected and came through with a plan that restores our rights and respects the rights of the community.

Here is my report :

Yesterday myself and my father decided to take advantage of our recaptured rights at Shoreham Beach. We arrived at around 11:00am to find no one at the gate. We figured they were not up and running yet, but left the gate open so people could access the beach and go fishing. We drove down the lot and got our gear together. We started walking down the path to the beach and were stopped by a female lifeguard who told us there is no fishing allowed. We told her Town Supervisor Mark Lesko had reinstated fishing at Shoreham Beach and fishing was allowed. We had the article from the North Shore Sun which outlines the plan and the opening on June 27th. She didnt care, we told her fishing was allowed and we intended to fish outside of the bathing area on public land below the high tide mark. She must have been sick of arguing with us so she said fishing was allowed outside of the bathing area. We proceeded to the beach.

As soon as we set foot on the beach, two male lifeguards told us fishing was not allowed. We once again told them it was. We offered to show them the article, but they said they didnt want to see it. They told us fishing was not allowed anywhere there , not on town beach, not east or west of town beach and they had been instructed by their supervisor to call that person if anyone tried to fish. We told them we were going fishing, we would be fishing on public land outside of the bathing area and were going regardless of what they said. They told us to go west as far as we could out of their site and they wouldnt call anyone.

We walked west about 1/2 a mile below the high tide mark until we reached a spot and started to fish. Didnt catch anything , but we just wanted to get out their and use our rights to legally fish that beach.

I am not sure what is going on here. Mark Lesko worked with the Coalition and came up with a very reasonable plan that respects the rights of everyone. The plan was publicized. Who authorized the employees at Brookhaven town beach to tell fisherman they were not allowed to fish ? This looks to be in complete defiance of the Town Supervisor. Why did none of the employees not know about Leskos plan? Why was no one there in a position to hand out stickers ?

Worse yet, I am hearing today that town employees at the entrance gate are refusing entry to the park to people who are in possession of a fishing rod !!! This is absolutely outrageous and certainly an illegal action.

I took some pictures of our excursion. Note the No Fishing/No Boating signs are still up. Not only that there was a portable sign placed at the entrance gate with the same No Fishing/No Boating.

I expected it would be possible the town wouldnt be completely ready with the new program. But I would never have expected the employees to have explicit direction from their Supervisor to tell people they are not able to fish and to call code enforcement if anyone tried to defy this.

Lesko put together a very good plan, I cant imagine he had anything to do with this. Whoever is behind this needs to explain what has happened this weekend. Someones head should be rolling because of this. It obvious there are still people in Brookhaven Town who want to trample all over our rights.

On a positive note, I was able to spend time with my father fishing. He really isnt even a surf fisherman, but came down to support me and our fight.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd155/rpsurf5/shorehamfishing026.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd155/rpsurf5/shorehamfishing029.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd155/rpsurf5/shorehamfishing031.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd155/rpsurf5/shorehamfishing032.jpg
Picture from door of Rocky Point Fishing Stop. Unfortunately with reduced access over the years and the closing of Shoreham Beach last year, Stans business has really suffered. He has been there for 35 years, great store, please stop by and support his store.

[voyager35]

rpsurf, Looks to me as if more work needs to be done. It's terrible when we are granted access and some loser supervisior takes matters into his own hands and still denies our rights.

Those are some awesome pics of you and your dad. Nothing beats a day of the surf with a man whom you admire.

[Tom Farrell]

Very good news! Town of Brookhaven parks Comissioner Eddie Morris just called me and informed me that Shoreham Beach is now open to fishing. He was extremely sincere and apologized for all of the confusion. Shoreham Beach should be open tomorrow morning around 5am. The stickers are not ready yet so for the time being the park employees will be checking peoples identification and permitting access. There may be some kinks to work out but for the mean time lets enjoy the season. :fishing: