So we now have significant usable pieces of the Raritan Bay shut down or on the way to having access restricted.

1. Laurence Harbor: We have the Laurence Harbor area, from Sayreville to Cliffwood, which is being partially fenced in now, and the rest of that area which may be fenced by the time they decide how much lead is there, and have committee meeting after committee meeting deciding how many more studies they should run. Look for more of that area to be shut down in the future.

2. Cliffwood Beach:There is part of Aberdeen's Cliffwood area recently shut down because of the littering, pizzing in public, and all the other disrespect some careless fishermen have heaped upon the residents there.

3. Union Beach: There is the famous section of Union Beach, called Pebble Beach, where generations of fishermen have been fishing, but for some reason the new generations think it's ok to treat the place like a trash dump, burning tires, plastic, paper, and having a complete disregard for the future enjoyment of others.


4. Atlantic Highlands: There is the rock jetty at the harbor inlet that was shut down a few years ago. Guys used to fish that place all the time. Someone fell, got hurt, and sued the marina, so now it's fenced off. Security guard told me you set foot on there, they will call the police and have you arrested.

5. Belford: The Belford Co-op, which owns the concrete docks there, was nice enough to let people fish that broken concrete for years. someone fell, sued them, and now it's off-limits. Of course, people migrated to the jetties and another area over there. The last 2 summers have been horrendous. It was like a circus down there. People brought their tents, dogs, kids, and overnight bags. I got nothin against bringing kids to the beach, but man you can't camp overnight there!!!

It's only a matter of time before those homeowners get together with the police chief and ask him to enforce littering or other violations, or look for some obscure violations to harass people so they won't treat that place like a campground at Woodstock.

I haven't been to Pebble Beach for years because of the crowding. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say with the other closures, more fishermen will be driven to these other places, and a popular place like Pebble Beach will be closed or have severe parkiing restrictions in place by the middle of this year, or by the spring of next year.

Fishermen just don't get it. Joe used to say that Access, once lost, is rarely if ever regained. Maybe people don't understand that concept because they're not used to losing access in NJ.