Herald & Lantern 11 May '83

3

Researchers See Revival Of Commercial Fishing

By E.J. DUFFY When Dr. Thomas Chelius moved from Ventnor to Cape May County three years ago, he became captivated by the romance he saw in the commercial fishing industry after “talking to some old, retired fishermen who could really tell a story. "I think these guys arc kind of like the cowboys of the Old West,” said Chelius. “They live dangerously. Sometimes they make a killing. Other times, they're flat broke.” Interested in finding out more about those rugged individualists, Chelius, who serves as chairman of academic support services at Atlantic Community College, tickled the institution’s reference computer for a printout of available information on commercial fishing in South Jersey, particularly in Cape May County. When the memory tapes responded with blank looks and empty data sheets, Cheluis decided to study the industry himself. HE LINED UP state grants through the New Jersey Historical Commission and put together a team of researchers. "First of all, it was just to be scallop fishing, but it was expanded." he ex- • plained, to meet grant guidelines. One of those guidelines required that the grant be given to a library so Cheluis enlisted the aid of Thomas Leonord, director of the Cape May County Library Some of the funds were funncled through him. While R. Craig Koedel, an ACC history professor, and Stewart Tweed, Cape May County marine agent, studied dusty records for an historical profile of commerical fishing, Chelius and Gretchen Duncun of Ocean City interviewed local fisherfolk togather an oral history from their accounts. Meanwhile, Leonard and Paul Stellhornr assistant director of the Commission for the Humanities, made sure that the grant money kept flowing. THE INITIAL RESULTS of their three years work were a 68-page history and 18 taped interviews. "The second phase was

to put together a slide-tape presentation," said Cheluis, who hired actor Stan Orlinski to narrate the script. Tom Celendine, director of ACC’s media services, wrote it, and designed graphics for the 26-minute slide-tape. When duplicated, copies of the slide-tape wHl join the interview transcripts and Koedel’s history at the county library, the college, the Marine Science Consortium on Route 9 in Seaville and at the Historical Commission. Asked if he drew any conclusions from his research, Koedel replied that he believes commercial fishing "is on the way back" in Cape May County. "Commercial fishing was shaken by calamitous reversals in the early 20th Century," he noted, citing pollution, shellfish viruses and competition for the decline. From his interviews, Celius detected a link between the cultural differences in Wildwood and Cape May and the back ground of the commercial fishermen who settled in the neighboring resorts “CULTURALL Y. although most of these peo pie were from the same stock — Swedes and Norwegians, at least, in the southern part of the county — they never really associated with one another to the point that they rarely even talked to one another. “This was very interesting to me." Chelius said of his major conclusion: "Those fishermen, who used new technology or invented their own...became very proficient at fishing.” One of those he mentioned was Dave Hart of Cape May. "This guy. Hart, devised a device that predicted the fish-finder." Hart, now in his 80s. became a government consultant, said Chelius "He began just as a commercial fisherman." ANOTHER OF Chelius' interview subjects was William Cleb. 80. of Wildwood. As general manager of Snow Canning Co. in 1949, Cleb rarely went out on the firm's fleet of "Snow Boats." But when

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he did. the company clammers reaped the harvest. Cleb had been determined to find an easier way to find clams than the standard method of dragging the bottom with a prayer "So. I devised this scheme, where I drug this electronic device so I could detect clams — or pebbles or mud," Cleb. now retired, explained. “It- never failed." Cleb had the apparatus made from telephone parts and an intercom from a B-29. "When you hit clams, it was just the same sound as when you break a rack of billard balls," he laughed. PASQUALE LaKOSA once operated the Pound Net Fishing Company out of Sea Isle City. His sons. Joe, Mario and Pat, were part of the three-boat crew Pat, now a Sea Isle police lieutenant, recalled his days of trap fishing offshore for Duncun and The Herald. “They couldn't carry the fish they caught," he said of the trap fishermen who

. flori* Word FISH STORIES — William F. Peabody, left, discusses fishing industry problems with Dr. Thomas Chelius, center, of At'antie Community College, and Stewart Tweed, Marine extension agent. All three are from Cape May. Peabody is owner of the Yvonne Michell, an 88-foot scallop boat. *

slipped their neLs over oak pilings miles at sea. They caught mostly weakfish and butterfish. he said. "In the '50s, they went out of business because of -the pollution," LaRosa added. "The pollution tended to lay off these beaches. "The DDT was the potent stuff and it killed off all the fishing. But it's coming

back." said the fisherman who turned cop in '62. "Whoever puts it back the way we had it will get rich," l-i Rosa predicted “I might do it yet LaROSA'S BRAND of op timism is the flavor Chelius expects from his romantic cowboys of the coast. Enthused by the rcsulLs of his study, Chelius now wants to

tackle research into each typebf fishing and produce slide-tapes about them. "We're probably going to pursue that," he said before beginning a new search for funding. "Although it's ending, as far as the commercial fishing history goes, it's also a beginning." Cheluis concluded

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