Brookhaven bans fishing at Shoreham Beach!

[pinhead44]

Smart move. Try to work it out behind the scenes. If not, we should be prepared to organize.

I'm betting that we'll have to go the protest route. Based upon the earlier comments made by Ms Bonner, it seems she hates fishermen, and wishes we would just go away. But we won't.

[stormchaser]

Nice work, rp.

[rpsurf5]

Wanted to give everyone an update on this situation.

Since Labor Day , the town has completely closed Shoreham Beach for the season. There is no fishing, no boating, no swimming, the beach is CLOSED. It has never been this way in past years. It seems like the local politicians and residents have taken this one step further in trying to turn public beaches private. Their first attempt at this was thinly veiled by banning fishing by using real or imagined issues. Now it is 100% clear what they are trying to do by closing this beach to everyone.

We can not let this stand.

There is a meeting on September 16th at the VFW Hall in Rocky Point on King Road (2nd right off Broadway from 25A going north) at 7PM. This meeting will be attended by local politician Jane Bonner, various civic associations from the beach area, the Brookhaven Business and Community Alliance and anyone else who wants to attend from the public.

If you care about your rights as a fisherman and taxpayer, whether you fish here or not , please attend this meeting and make yourself heard. We especially need residents from the town to attend. This can be an emotional issue for some, so if you attend the meeting please conduct yourself in a professional, respectful manner. Hopefully the town is willing to work this issue out , if not we will have to move forward with other political and legal options.

If anyone has any questions please PM me.

John

[pinhead44]

Thanks for the update, RP. Don't know anyone who's a homeowner there, but I might be able to attend that meeting. If not, I will tell my friends about it.

Question - you don't recommend a lot of fishermen showing up to show support, if we don't live there? Wouldn't it be a powerful thing if a lot of us showed up?

[rpsurf5]

Everyone from anywhere is encouraged to come , so please come down. Local presence is key though, locals hold more weight then non-locals , especially when it comes to politicians who only understand votes.

Definitely come down whether you live in Brookhaven or not , access issues affect fisherman everywhere, it sets bad precedent if they get away with it and good precedent for fisherman everywhere if we win this battle.

[pinhead44]

bump for brookhaven, meeting is tonight

[DarkSkies]

The meeting finished a while ago. It wasn't as positive as we would have liked, and the "process" is way too slow for my type A personality, but it looks like some progress was made.

Some of the highlights:
(Note: pics will come in the next few days as I get to them, fishin has been too good lately. If anyone has any corrections to what I observed, I would appreciate the help)


LEGAL MUMBO JUMBO AND MANEUVERING:

- The meeting was run by the BBCA, a year old organization formed to address the needs of the businessmen and the residents simultaneously. Joe Kessel is the chair, web address is www.BB-CA.org

In the beginning, a person from Jane Bonner's office read a copy of a "resolution" that was recently passed. The key things I heard were that the town was in the process of giving fishermen access back, and that there was a discussion of fees for a nighttime parking pass.

I was not clear as to the whole thing, and in anyone could get a copy of that resolution and post it, it would help.

As of now, the gates have been locked since July 4?

Ms. Bonner did not show up. I was surprised, thought she might have taken this opportunity to address some concerns, and maybe help the surf community better understand the pressures she is facing. The BBCA said that she had not planned to show up originally.

It was suggested that one the main issues was an enforcement problem, and people should apply pressure to the town for more consistent enforcement.

Some questions were raised about the original intent to use the beach as a bathing beach with a maximum capacity of 300 in an ordinance passed many years ago. However questions were also raised about why fishermen were allowed to fish that beach all that time contrary to the original ordinance.

There was also a question raised (by me) regarding the Public Trust Doctrine, and if anyone knew if the town could withstand a legal challenge to these constitutionally protected rights.

A diplomatic and reasoned answer given by Joe Kessel was that he was not as versed in those issues as he would like to be, but he understood that in some instances of "public safety concerns" access could be restricted.

This is the same type of end run they are trying to pull on the NJ jetty and MoCo beach access - where they say they can put up restrictions because of the inherent danger of jetty fishing.

However, I believe in this case if it was tried in court, they would lose.

Tackle shop owner Stanley Hentschel, now famous from all the TV and radio interviews he is doing, presented a very mature voice of reason here. He knew his material, and captivated those listening to him.

He stated that the Public Trust Doctrine has been challenged 5 times in the last 3 years, and the towns that tried to restrict access in violation of these constitutionally protected rights lost in court each time.

I'm thinking that the town is acutely aware that they would lose a Public Trust Doctrine challenge in court. This would also give them flack from other municipalities in LI who would blame them for opening this Pandora's box.

Ultimately, the town will settle with the fishermen, but it's taking too damn long for me, and I don't even fish there!