CAPE MAY COUNTY MAGAZINE 29 JUNE '83

25

saw fit. But now the doctors and all the health people have recommended that fish is one of the finest foods that you can eat. It is because it is the only untampered food left in the world today...So, getting back to why we had to stop — the pollution, the DDT, and everything else combined, the water pollution from the Delaware Bay, the Hudson River. The fish didn't come back to this beach anymore because it wasn’t conducive for them...Even the porpoises went away...So we were ending up that we couldn’t catch any fish. We were getting maybe five, six hundred pounds a day where we used to get five, six tons a day in each net. So, it was inevitable — the cost of the equipment was going up. So 1961 was my last year...Now, in 1962 they stopped spraying the DDT...They weren’t allowed to spray that no more. So, from 1962 and all the laws that they passed about the sewage and dumping chemicals, the Delaware Bay is pretty well cleaned up...It used to be black...It’s nice; it doesn’t really smell. And the fish go up there now. They go up as far as Trenton now... I: How many were In your company? L; Well, it was owned by the family, but we used to employ about 14 men... I: You sold the fish to wholesalers? L: Wholesalers. But we had large clients. We used to sell to the Philadelphia market, the New York market. Jack Gordon used to buy some. He used to be the big fish dealer here in Sea Isle City. Everyone knows him...We didn't sell too many fish up in Wildwood or Cape May. In fact, there were Lund Fisheries and a few others there but they didn’t deal down there. I: How was the competition? L:...Well, there was competition, but not against each other. The competition would probably be in the markets after we shipped the fish out I: No, I meant with the draggers. L: The draggers couldn't fish where we were. They were at a two-mile limit...we were under a mile and a half , and that space is filled with every kind of fish that you can imagine. L: We never knew when the Depression was in our house. There was nine kids in there. And he married them all off and bought them houses and cars and everything from that business. When he came to this country he had five dollars...the company that my father started was called the Shallow Water Fish

Co., Inc. That was in 1915 when he bought it. And then they made it the Union Fishing, Freezing and Cold Storage Co. They did have a cold storage plant there and a freezer. They used to cut the ice out of the bay and store it. Just salt water ice and use it on their fish. They were very versatile people; tMy weren’t like us. They worked and they were ingenious though they didn’t have anv education L: My father died in 1960 and we didn’t last because we were going down then. He had lost over $200,000 from 1950 till then. He was pretty well dejected...We had another little effort with George Shoemaker from Cape May. We put it in the Delaware Bay, these traps. I. What happened? L: They had a law there where you could put the traps there in Delaware Bay from the 15th of February to the 15th of May, but then you had to remove everything — poles and all. Well, about the 15th of May is when the fish are starting to come in here and we had to take it out... I: What different methods were used to determine what the weather would be like? L: We knew what the weather was ourselves from being involved. You had to know what the weather does 'cause in them days we had no radio or anything. We could more or less tell what the weather was gonna be. In fact, even till today I can tell...It was our business to know. ’Cause if you made a mistake, you might die. I: You never had any bad experiences? L: No, no. My father was v^ry careful He passed on the safety, thank God I: Do you remember what he did in Italy? L: My father was from Messine. Didn’t do very much of anything. They picked oranges and worked wherever he could...He talked his father into letting him immigrate to the United States... He landed in New York and he went to Philadelphia to work. And he worked on the Girard Trust Co. building...Then he went with Stetson Hat. But you couldn’t get in there right away. You had to know, somebody. So he hod a friend that worked there and got him in there. He must have worked there for three or four years and got married and then the children came and my mother couldn't stand it there so that’s why he came down. He used to go up to the shore in Atlantic City like on vacat ion, and he loved the ocean. And somehow, I don’t know how, they got the word that there was this type of fishing for sale here and that's how he came here... I: Do you still go fishing? L: I would go back in a minute I could put this thing up in my own time and advise my sons. I could rig it up and still be here (his job as captain of police) I: But it would cost $200,000? L: Yeah. You'd get that back in the first two months. The need is there for fish . And there ain't enough people going fishing. We have to import the fish and the fisherman because there’s not being hand ed down, and besides with the high price of fuel now, the little people are gonna have to drop out of it. The only ones that are gon na exist are the people with a lot of experience...

llljUVt Camel I •• Fumm Ummrf Rnaf* Trim U

SWEATER OUTLET

DIRECT FACTORY-TO-YOU SAVINGS

's & Ladies' Cashmere • Shetland Hair • Lamb's Wool • Cotton • Silk ™ SPECIALS

'...Every Heart Beale True With The Bed, White, A Blue..." 100 % Shetland Wool LADIES’ CREWS - CARDIGANS - V-NECKS

COLORS: Red, White, or Blue (Navy)

—Slight imperfections —Limited quantities

Retell Nationally For Up To $36 When Perfect

TWO LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU: STONE HARBOR MALL TERRA MAR PLAZA 96th St. (Rear of Mall) 900 Tilton Rd. 97th St. (Front of Mall) (Juet off Exit 36, G.S. Parkway) STONE HARBOR 368-3164 NORTHFIELD 645-3320

HARBOR

OUTLET

IS HAVING A

T- * * * * * * * * * ■¥ * ¥ * * ¥ * -k * * * * * * -k -k -k * -k * -k * * * * * * * * -k * * -k * •k * * * * * -k

2 Truckloads of Mattresses & Boxsprings

BY BEMCO STARTING PRICE

TWIN

M49. M99.

STARTING

PRICE

QUEEN KING $299. $399.

OF HIDE-A-BEDS TWIN FULL QUEEN SIZE SIZE SIZE $199. $229. $259. AL55! SWIVEL ROCKER IN CANE & WICKER $ 199.

* * -k * -k -k * * •k * * -k * * * -k * * * -k * * * * -k * * -k -k -k

EXIT 6 PARKWAY NORTH WILDWOOD BLVD. 465-3208 BURLEIGH 465-7677