28

outdoors

sports

Herald & Lantern 15 February '84

with Lou Rodia -

County Has Big Need Of Fishing Facilities

\

Over 20 years of dealing with tourist-vacationers has opened up an amazing statistic which l was reestablished as valid by a state study of tourism a few years ago What the figures show .is that w^ll over 60 •per cent of the people who vacation at tbe seashore in New Jersey- fc^ve 'an interest in fishing. That does, not mean that they fish while they * are here on vacation. It merely means that they might or they could if the facilities were •more readily available • * - Sure, we have lots of party and charter boats But rising cost of dock space, fuel and boats and stringent (but necessary) rules limiting development along the inland waterway have all .contributed to the decline in the' number of boats. In the early 1950s the numbers of party and charter boats peaked, bti^ by _ 1975. only 101 party boa'ts and 235 charter boats were operating along the ^entire Jersey Coast. In less than 25 years the number of party boats had dropped 68 •per cent and charter boat numbers had dropped off by '52 per cent. larger boats have helped keep the number of anglers at a fairly constant level, but many people cannot and will nol fish on boats. Age. infirmatibs. susceplihiUty to sea-sickness and cost per trip all are deterrents ' Couple this -with

Cape May County's 20.pei cent bracket for senior citizens a’nd retirees, and it becomes glaringly .apparent that more and not less facilities are needed to provide Ihese people and the. mass-of anglers wfiocan't or won’t use bsats a place to get near the water ", to crab or angle. ' SOME MANAGE to’get out on the few jetties that are fishable. Most 'jetties are not safe even for the sound of body and stout of heart Some are entirely ‘too far from the nearest. parking areas to be accessible. State laws make it illegal to fish from the numerous bridges which criss cross our*waterways. Other, states provide walkways and in some cases, even slow traffic down to accommodate the fishermen. Not here, though, since the state and local governing bodies deal strictly in bridge building, operation and maintainance and tehd to blot out the fact that every bridge is a natural fishing pier and can and should be used as such because the need is there. Any doubts can be dispelled as to the need for more shore-based facilities • if one would look at the jetties at Cape May Point as soon as any fish appear around them. Second Street Jetty in Cape May is another classic example of crowd. No one will ever

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know how many do not fish there because it is too crowded most of the time. I stopped even trying 10 or 12 years ago because there is literally no more room. Visit the RuSs Chattin Bridge on the Ocean Drive behind Ocean City, where there is a walkway where people can crab and fish. It is crowded all the time by angler-crabbers of all ages—young and old, male and female. The countybuilt and maintained bridge/pier over 'Scotch Bonnett on the Stone Harbor Boulavard has fishermen .on it today as I write this column and all summer iohg'it is mobbed with anglers and crabbers. So is the bridge end on the old Avalon Draw Bridge, which the county managed to save as a fishing pier when the new bridge was built. Street ends and anywhere there is access (legal or otherwise) where fishermen can get to it, someone is already fishing most of the time when there are fish around. Why am I writing all of this? We’re about to lose (or hopefully keep and improve) a long time ekisting facility which has seen betted days and may go the way of the wrecking ball. WE RE TALKING about the 59th Street pier in Ocean City, built originally in the early 1900s. The pier was wrecked several times by storms, most recently in 1962. It was built and reactivated in 1972 when it was thelbngest privately owned^ ocean pier' on the entire* liast Coast. It offered a club atmosphere and a strong family environment and it was open to the public. The purpose of the pier is to get fishermen out to the deep water off the beach -where there is quality fishing. One of the reasons for the demise of the pier is that it ho longer serves that purpose. It needs lengthening to get out beyond the next sdWl bar The .city’s beach Replenishing pro-' gram has made the beach twice as wide as it was a

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. few yeais’back and the pier no longer is out to deep water. Another 100 feet or so would help. The pier would serve four major groups—all of which are looming larger and larger in the future of Cape May County. The groups are the elderly, the family unit, the handicapped and the angler, who is disenfranchised by virtue of economics. The latter group is made up of retirees on fixed incomes and many younger people who do not have the extra spendable income to war-' rant boat purchases or the cost of party and charger boat fees. What makes the 59th Street pier worth saving in addition is that it a joins the land purchased by the state tinder the Green Acres program at the south end of Ocean City to preserve it in open space. If the pier is sold (a*move under consideration by its present ownership)) the area may fall to development. We' are

also told that vandalism and lack of maintainance are taking their toll and- it might, well be that the pier will be condemned. If that happens it will never be rebuilt. It is easy to understand why public officials can be non-committal about matters pertaining to the out of doors. Many do not hunt or fish. They hear from the leaders of the outdoors movements who represent large numbers of individuals, most of whom donot and Will not belong to clubs or organizations which can serve as their voice. They will not write letters or make phone calls and many-times, they are defeated because (bey do not act. RIGHT NOW. the Environmental Association of Ocean City is striving to save the pier. There is interest at the state level. Green Acres funding is available with the passage of a new bond issue in the past November election.

Needlers in Double Over Havin ’ Fun

CAPE MAY - Havin’ Fun was cast in the roll of spoiler as it went up against the second-place Needlers. who are trying to keen pace with the first place Shire team in women's volleyball. Havin’ Fun put a scare into <he Needlers early on in the first game as it moved out quickly to take a 4-0 lead behind the serving of JoAnjie. DeCosta. The Needlers stormed back to knot the score,at 5-5. From that point on it was all Needlers as they went on to win convincingly 15-8. Havin’ Fun hung t^ugh in game two, but the Needlers won 15-10. 'Hie Needlers completed the sweep in game three as they overwhelmed Havin’ Fun 15-4. IN A CLASH of league powers the Kona Girls took on the first-place Shire team. In game one Denise Zimmerman played well early on to lead Kona to a 8-6 lead. Jan Kellaway and Marlene Meduich brought tbe Shire back with aggressive defense as their team went on to win 15-0. In game two Kona had several chances to capitalize on the Shire's errors. but Shire wqn 15-11 despite the impressive comeback attempt by Kona. The Shire completed the sweep in game three as it shut down Kona's offense after the two teams were

tied 6-6 and went on to win

easily, 15-7.

The final match was a make-up match between Havin’ Fun and the Needlers, who had met earlier in the evening with the Needlers sweeping Havin’ Fun. It was obvious in game one that Havin' Fun was still feeling the ill effects of its earlier meeting with the Needlers, as the team looked very disorganized in game one. The Needlers, on the other hand, looked very loose and confident and it showed up on the scoreboaid as the Needlers won easily 15-5. The Needlers should have let the sleeping dog lie. however, for in game two Havin' Fun gave them all they could handle. Led by the aggressive play of Linda Thomas, Havin' Fun remained in the game until, the Needlers regained serve with the score tied 12-12. At that point Marion Lomach served her team to victory J5-12. Game three was almost a mirror image of game two as Havin' Fun again played valiantly, due largely to the front rowplay of Bobby Merkel. The Needlers completed the sweep, however. 15-11.

STANDINGS

Tbe Shire 36-10 Tbe Needlers 30$ Kona Girls 27-17 Thunder & Roees 20-27 C-View 10-31 Havin' Fun 7-36

Congressman WiJIiam Hughes, a native of Ocean City, has expressed strong support for saving the pier. Mary Brier, speaking for the Environmental Association, said the group • is getting Idte of grass roots support for the movement to.save the pier. - Tbe need is there, and the interest is there. A close working relationship between the groups who need it, the city, the state and all of the impacted agencies in between can and should get together with the single purpose in mind to preserve a badly-needed facility. - Oftentimes, in projects such as this, it is a which came first thing. No one fished or crabbed on the old railroad bridge over Scotch Bonnet except a ‘few diehards who were foolhardy enough to venture forth on the old rickety structure. Now it is a well-used, pier because the county put it into shape. So will be the effect of a 59th Street Pier project. 8th Year

For Soccer

AVALON - The Avalon/Stone Harbor Soccer program joins the Cap^ May. County Soccer Association as it begins its 8th year with its program .for boys and girls betweep, the ages of 7 and 16-1/2. Adult volunteers are needed to help as coaches in the soccer program in the Avalon/Stone Harbor area. Anyone who can volunteer for this job should call Dave Haberle at Community Hall 967-3066 . or come to the hall Feb. 18. ' Registration for boys and girls wishing to play soccer this spring will be held 9 a.m.-l p.m. Saturday at Avalon Community Hall, 30th and Avalon Avenue. The registration fee will be $10 to cover the cost of insurance, patches and team registration in the County League. Each youngster must also have a photostatic copy of his or her birth certificate for the records. Every child, regardless' of ability, will play at least half of each game if he or she regularly attends practice, according to Haberle.

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