By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Local fishermen urged Sea Isle City officials Tuesday to repeal a newly enacted ban on shark fishing, saying they fear it will lead to a broader backlash of other beach communities at the Jersey Shore taking similar action.
Appearing at a City Council meeting, the fishermen said they fully agreed with Sea Isle’s efforts to protect the safety of swimmers and surfers, but argued that a complete ban on catching sharks from the beaches is excessive.
“It’s going to spiral out of control,” Dean Danenhower, president of the Cape-Atlantic Stripers Club, predicted of the possibility of other shore communities prohibiting shark fishing.
Beginning Aug. 8, Sea Isle imposed a ban on shark fishing off its beaches following complaints that drones and other questionable methods were being used to spot some of the big predators swimming offshore and haul them out of the surf.
“While we all understand that sharks inhabit the ocean and that we have a great reputation as a fishing community, local government must act responsibly when concerns such as those that were brought to us by many citizens are raised,” Mayor Leonard Desiderio said in a statement that he read at the Council meeting.
Under the ban, all shark fishing is prohibited on or near the beaches and within 600 feet of Sea Isle’s shoreline. Violators risk fines as high as $1,250 in municipal court.
The prohibition includes shore-based shark fishing by chumming or blood-baiting, the use of unmanned drones or with the assistance of kayaks or any other water vessel.
Desiderio explained that the shark fishing ban will continue for now, but that the city intends to collaborate with the fishing and surfing communities on “reasonable regulations” that will serve as a long-term solution for sharing the beaches.
He added that no meetings or serious discussions will take place until after Labor Day, the traditional end of the summer tourism season. During the bustling summer season, beaches are crowded with swimmers, surfers and anglers.
“No long-term decisions will be made until we’ve ensured that we’ve done our due diligence, and until all concerned parties have had an opportunity to weigh in on this,” Desiderio said.
City Council President Mary Tighe said she has no objections about surf fishing, but called it “cheating” when anglers use chum or drones to try to catch sharks.
“We’re against the cheating part of it,” she said.
After the meeting, Tighe said in an interview that fishermen should heed the advice of “don’t chum, don’t cheat and everything will be fine.”
The local fishermen who spoke during the meeting insisted that they don’t use chum to catch sharks.
“Nobody’s chumming. Nobody’s luring them in,” Sea Isle fisherman John Andrews said.
Andrews, though, said advances in drone technology are changing the way fishing is done. He told Council that he uses a drone to safely drop hooks out into the ocean, farther out than traditional casting with a fishing rod and line.
“That’s not surf fishing,” Tighe shot back at Andrews about the drones.
Danenhower, of the Cape-Atlantic Stripers Club, said the ban is “almost unenforceable” because Sea Isle officials can’t possibly distinguish between who is fishing for sharks and who is trying to catch other types of fish.
Danenhower and other fishermen suggested that Sea Isle could revise its ban to make shark fishing legal after the lifeguards and swimmers leave the beaches in the late afternoon and evening. They said that would dramatically reduce any potential conflicts between swimmers, surfers and anglers.
“There’s a way to go about it that’s respectful and safe,” fisherman Jack Turner said.
The fishermen repeatedly expressed their willingness to work with city officials on a compromise to restore shark fishing. They noted that the last thing they want to happen is to have other shore towns impose a similar ban on shark fishing.
“This is unprecedented,” A.J. Rotondella, another fisherman, said of Sea Isle’s ban.
City Solicitor Paul Baldini voiced confidence that Sea Isle and the local fishing community can work out an agreement when discussions begin after Labor Day.
“This is not adversarial. The city’s here to work with everybody,” Baldini said.
Bringing a slew of attention and news coverage to Sea Isle, photos and video have been circulating on social media in recent weeks showing sharks being caught off the beach or cruising around not too far offshore.
Some of the photos show what apparently are large sand tiger sharks being caught in Sea Isle. Sand tigers have fearsome looking teeth, but are generally known to be of little or no threat to humans.
In June, a group of fishermen posted video of what was believed to be an 8-foot to 12-foot great white shark that they spotted while in a boat about one mile off Sea Isle. They saw the shark while approaching Townsends Inlet, a deep channel connecting the bay and ocean between Sea Isle and Avalon.
The fishermen who appeared at Tuesday’s Council meeting stressed that they do not keep the sharks that they catch. They said it is just as fun releasing the sharks as it is catching them in the surf.
“That’s the best part,” Rotondella said of letting the sharks go.
