I had done some research on this last year. The reason the ropes go up early is the fact that the male Plovers normally arrive from March through April with the females following a few weeks later. Since they are coming from the south, the farther north you are the later they will arrive, for the most part. The last of the juveniles leave by mid August .

The closures should last no longer than that. If they do then whoever is in charge of the area should be inundated with calls citing facts and not outrage.

Sandy Hook is part of the Gateway National Seashore MPA with areas including parts of NJ as well as NY. It has been since 1972.
The level of protection is ZML - Zoned Multiple Use MPAs that allow some extractive activities throughout the entire site, but that use marine zoning to allocate specific uses to compatible places or times in order to reduce user conflicts and adverse impacts.

The level of fishing restrictions is resrec - Recreational Fishing Restricted. Due to the ZML this may mean due to bathing beaches or shellfishing restrictions.

These restrictions are exactly the same for the Fire Island National Seashore.


The MPA fervor came about because the Executive Order 13158 in 2000. This was 10 years ago and everyone is up in arms all of a sudden. Everyone has a right to be concerned about the state of access we have. There is no evidence, that I am aware of, that shows they will stop fishing in the areas you already fish. If the government, state or federal, wants to restrict fishing or access all together there will have to be public input into the matter. This is how we, as recreational fishermen, defeated the commercial rollover quotas of striped bass. The East coast has based part of its economy on fishing, both rec and comm, since before the birth of this nation, it will not be given up so easily.