[sand flea]

This one of the best (and saddest) pieces I've read on the forces killing off surf fishing. It's set on Cape Cod but it'll look familiar to anyone who fishes beaches managed by the National Park Service. It's about the last tackle shop on the Outer Cape closing down, it's about plovers and the park service, it's about declining fish stocks and climate change, the return of seals and the death of a town. It's a eulogy for the sport.

http://capecodwave.com/remember-surfcasting-the-last-bait-tackle-shop-in-provincetown-has-closed/

 

[Jollymon]

Wow that is sad,I hate to see that, I saw that on Long Island as a kid,it was wide open to fish,now it's covered in reg's that keep you out.I'm seeing at OBX allover again.
I use my vote to help stop it best I can But we all must do the same, Together. Or our kids and grandkids will never know the joy we had once.

 

[yerbyray]

Once the sea lions take completely over they will push out the plovers and the NPS will have to import "Narragansett Indians" to bump off the offending mammals.

Then the Narragansetts will build casinos and the housing issue will loom largely so the NPS will have to import non-native Texans to subdue the Indians.

Once the Texans take over they NPS will have to import Santa Ana and a much of Mexicans to remove the offending Texans.

Then the NPS will have to call Walter White....

All kidding aside it was a good read and may foreshadow the plight of the NC Outer Banks if you substitute seals with rich people who want to buy everything not nailed down.

 

[marv1234]

Seals can't be controlled unless you kill them off which isn't an option in this part of the world. Only natives in places like Canada or Alaska can do such a thing. As far as fishing goes the East Coast are slowly filling up with regs to keep away fishermen. On the west coast we have the regulations but we can manage it fine since fish and game are not nosey. Our pier fishing here stinks, since most of the pier are on mostly on 4 ft of water. In NC is really bad since they like beach tourist and think fishermen bring sharks that lead to attacks.

 

[Drumdum]

Been saying this for years to deaf ears...No fish zones are in the mix as well.. Do not know or have an answer,but in less than 20yrs rec fishing will be a thing of the past..

 

[ez2cdave]

The Liberals / Progressives ( Democrats / RINO's ) are responsible for all of this crap and have been, all along, decade after decade. They will be the death of "legal" recreational fishing, sooner than later . . . Then, I will become a "Poacher".

 

[fish bucket]

we as rec anglers are way too passive......everyone that fishes should belong to a club or organization that supports fishing
only by numbers can we fight back
we have to resist bad laws at every level till they get the message
bitchin' on the net won't get it done
electing true constitutionalists is a good start
I for one am not going to go down easily.....i'll never stop fishing no matter what happens in the future

 

[hunter1]

Sounds like were heading to be a communist state. But even the commies in Russia gave the worker cheap Vodka, and let them fish. Like at A I. Va. I was ready this year to build a house near there, then i read about how the Fed's want to eventuly close down the Fed part of A I . in Md and VA so it can go back to being a Natural preserve. No car's, no fishing, No people. Sad, I'm going to The Delaware beaches, There owned by the state.

 

[sand flea]

If you read the article this isn't just about pushing out the fishermen. It's about pushing out the kiteboaders, families just hanging out, everybody. And it's not right/left either. There have been Republican administrations in place when much of this crap happened from the local to the state to the federal level and they made a few noises but did nothing. What seems to be behind all of this is a drive toward turning federal lands into "wilderness" areas where access of any kind is nearly impossible. The goal isn't to put the fishermen out--it's to put everyone out.

I put up a post about something similar going on at Assateague in Maryland a few months ago. In that post there's a link to a proposal written by some kid who was interning there. It's badly-written crap, but it really makes it clear the philosophy that's driving this: people who want one specific type of recreation--hiking--and everyone else will be driven out so they can play make believe. Their emotional experience of communing with nature is hurt by seeing tire tracks or hearing car or snowmobile engines, seeing kiteboarders or people on mountain bikes, anything that breaks up their little-kid fantasies. From the proposal:

In this scenario, it is easy to feel at peace with nature, but there are distractions which may intrude on any self-
induced shipwreck: the persistent or abandoned structures may be more startling in this otherwise undeveloped
environment; litter, from far away, may have drifted upon the shore; tire tracks from the last monitoring patrol may mar
the sand; an OSV permit owner may even drive up within a few minutes next to the exhausted hiker. The gas-powered
OSV vehicle user, however, will not have the same experience as a human-powered encounter with nature.

And all the while we hiss and rail, drive off potential allies who might disagree with us on politics by spewing anger about unrelated issues, and not thinking about alliances with other usergroups. (Hell, Greenpeace, which is politically Left, has done more to bring attention to the menhaden issue than anybody else.) The real problem is in the NPS. This was never really about birds or turtles or anything else. It's not about picking on fishermen, as much as we like to think everything's about us. It's about this wilderness philosophy of managing national parks. It's about turning recreational areas into no-go zones for humans, by creating the false perception that it's either drill/log/destroy/deface or kick all the people out.

 

[BlaineO]

The "Sue and Settle" thing has gotten totally out of hand, from the NPS, the EPA, and beyond. Our elected officials will hopefully come to realize while they are being impotent in creating legislation, Judges on the bench and special interest groups are doing what they want and completely circumventing the system that is supposed to "Government of the people, by the people, for the people..."

But then again, maybe sports enthusiasts and participants that enjoy public resources should borrow a few pages from their playbook.

Meanwhile, the officials of the NPS seem to have no issue with the philosophy of the special interest groups, maybe they don't realize that the wilderness model does not include them in the future either....

Blaine

 

[BPReeds]

I never liked the Idea of vehicles on beaches, but, on these beaches I can see the need...why can't The park service come up with a plan that would allow guys to get to the remote areas?....vehicles in a driving zone....I'm glad my local beaches are to narrow for vehicles, we have enough crap to put up with let alone trucks plowing up and down the sand......we are getting crowded!....the seal issue was interesting, I would like to know what the so called experts think about this new change in seal habitat.....Down here we have too many sharks, since shark fishing has been regulated we are getting fewer fish each year, may also be due to the warming seas....change is underway...so far, it hasn't been good......

 

[sand flea]

Meanwhile, the officials of the NPS seem to have no issue with the philosophy of the special interest groups, maybe they don't realize that the wilderness model does not include them in the future either....

Dead on. These other groups don't realize this model will exclude them once they've kicked all the vehicles out. They're already doing it in some refuges. Back Bay, for instance, where huge tracts of the trails where birders and bikers normally go are now off-limits for about half the year because the very presence of human beings quietly walking past could disturb the wildlife. I stumbled across it last summer while out for a bike ride down to the NC line. Half the place is now no-go for human beings, even those on foot or bikes.

 

[Garboman]

This one of the best (and saddest) pieces I've read on the forces killing off surf fishing. It's set on Cape Cod but it'll look familiar to anyone who fishes beaches managed by the National Park Service. It's about the last tackle shop on the Outer Cape closing down, it's about plovers and the park service, it's about declining fish stocks and climate change, the return of seals and the death of a town. It's a eulogy for the sport.

http://capecodwave.com/remember-surfcasting-the-last-bait-tackle-shop-in-provincetown-has-closed/

I got interested in Surf Fishing reading the books written in the 1950's and !960's, these books were written by New England writers and sportsmen who pioneered the sport after WWII. Frank Woolner, Ted Williams and other New England and Montauk surfcasters were my heroes when I was 9 years old living in California.

At that time the Menhaden Fishery was not mechanized and the bait fish that supported the Striper and Large Bluefish, seemed limitless.

That has changed.

Another thing that has changed is the relative scarcity of Large Sharks along the Mid Atlantic Coast of the US.

Not talking Blacktips and Spinners like in NC but the Whites and larger Porbeagles that before Man came along, held the Seals in check off of Cape Cod and its environs.

I used to catch a few Porbeagles off of the Nags Head pier in early spring, have not heard about one in twenty years, which brought up the thought. They look just like miniature White Sharks but are much darker in color. A seal would not stand a chance against a big Porbeagle.......

I kept postponing a visit to New England to fish, it was all ways a more sure thing heading out the OBX on my part.

It does bring up the subject of doing what one can to support the local tackle stores on whatever beach a person fishes, rather than supporting Dick Cabela or Johnny Morris who by the way do not fish Rodanthe Pier.

 

[Hooked Up]

at least the guy in the interview wore his best Dick Cabelas shirt

 

[Drumdum]

Sandflea,all I can do is draw parallels to our situation down here.. You are correct,they hold no alliance with any one user group.. They are elitist tree huggers that could care less about fishermen,surfers,beach goers,or even shell collectors... They have a set agenda to stop human interaction with wildlife and the land it occupies.. INCLUDING areas in the ocean.. These same people have elaborate scams for collecting donations from folks that have no idea what they are really giving the $ for,getting money from the gov in court battles,as well as infiltrating gov agencies such as usfwl,nps,doi.. They do this "for the greater good",or at least in their minds that is what it is all for.. This is why they pat themselves on the back and get that warm and cozy "feel good feeling" whenever they get beaches shut down and public access limited.... To a person with common sense it makes no sense,but it obviously does to them..

 

[DrumintheSuds]

I will surf fish until they drag me of the island. Then I will buy a boat and fish the back waters until they ban boats. I guess then I will buy some land, build a pond and fish it until they ban me from fishing my own backyard. Maybe by then it will be the end of the road for me......In all seriousness, the park service isn't your friend. I don't converse with them and I go out of my way to let them know it.

 

[Mastrbaitr]

I will surf fish until they drag me of the island. Then I will buy a boat and fish the back waters until they ban boats. I guess then I will buy some land, build a pond and fish it until they ban me from fishing my own backyard. Maybe by then it will be the end of the road for me......In all seriousness, the park service isn't your friend. I don't converse with them and I go out of my way to let them know it.

Amen