By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Sea Isle City is banning 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.
All shark fishing shall be prohibited on or near the beaches and within 600 feet of Sea Isle’s shoreline, Mayor Leonard Desiderio announced Tuesday during a City Council meeting.
The city plans to contact the local fishing community and the surfing community to study long-term solutions to shark fishing, he noted.
Desiderio said Sea Isle wants to ensure “reasonable regulations promoting the continued long-term harmonious sharing of surfing and fishing beaches by the stakeholders in these desired beach activities.”
“So, we’re going to prohibit shark fishing in Sea Isle City until we all get together and come to some type of solution that works for all,” he said.
Starting Monday, Sea Isle amended its regulations for fishing off the beaches to ban the catching of sharks.
The prohibition includes shore-based shark fishing by chumming, the use of unmanned drones or with the assistance of any water vessel, Desiderio said.
According to a city news release, shore-based shark fishing is defined as: “Any person targeting or harvesting sharks from shore (beach), including from any structure attached to the shore (beach) including, but not limited to, piers, jetties, and bridges.”
“The prohibition shall include shore-based shark fishing by chumming/blood-baiting, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), or with the assistance/use of any water vessel by any person or in concert with others within the City of Sea Isle City,” the release stated.
The possession of chum, vessels or drones while fishing on the beaches “shall create a presumption of impermissible fishing,” according to the release.
Anyone who is convicted of violating the fishing regulations will risk fines as high as $1,250 in Sea Isle municipal court.
During the June 28 Council meeting, a Sea Isle resident, Ed Dunn, first complained to the governing body about the use of chumming, drones and kayaks to spot and catch sharks off the beach. He urged city officials at that time to ban shark fishing that would use “mechanical devices” such as drones.
“I just want to be clear that surf fishing is not a problem. The problem is the shark fishermen trying to lure sharks close to shore,” said Dunn, a resident of 36th Street.
He explained that the fishermen have been catching what are considered harmless sharks off the 36th Street beach so far. He is worried that eventually they will attract more aggressive sharks close to the beach near swimmers or surfers.
Dunn believes that if someone wants to fish for sharks, they should charter a boat and go out to where they are in the ocean rather than drawing them closer to shore where swimmers are in the water.
Meanwhile, photos and video have been circulating on social media in recent weeks showing sharks being caught off the beach in Sea Isle 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.
