This is in response to David Nash’s letter to the editor backing the proposed fish pier in Oak Bluffs. I will do my best to respond point by point.

I am by no means an expert on fishing or marine biology, but I am an avid fisherman who turned his love into a profession. I run a charter boat and also assist in running the Skipper out of Oak Bluffs harbor. I have been fishing these waters since I could hold a rod, and yes, I learned to catch bonito off of the SSA dock in Oak Bluffs back in the late 1960s and 1970s. It’s true that there are great tales of fishing off the dock, some of them mine, until it was prohibited by the SSA, not due to homeland security but to the fact that people waiting for the boat were getting hooked while we were casting, and the SSA workers had to constantly clean up after us fisherman.

The last thing the SSA wanted was for their customers to have to wait for the boat with the smell of bait, blood, etc. roasting in the sun.

Since reading Mr. Nash’s letter, I decided to call local tackle shops and talk to fishermen around the Island as Mr. Nash had done. I only told the tackle shop person that I had a fishing rod, and wanted to catch some dinner. Locally I was told to hit the bridges between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown or the sea wall at the bend. If I had a car, head up to Menemsha, or Lobsterville beach; theses were among some of the suggested fishing hot spots. Not one shop told me to cast along the side of the SSA dock. I thought that might be as I had heard at the last meeting that fishermen will not openly share their hot spots. As I drove around, I spoke with people I saw fishing. Some were not aware of the proposed pier; most said “fish where the fishermen are.” Over the past few months, I have not seen anyone fishing from the shore beside the SSA dock.

Good fishing needs bottom structure, such as rocks, boulders, mussel beds etc. There is plenty of structure under the SSA dock, but there will be no structure under the proposed pier (a 200-foot cast away). The bottom is all sand, very shallow, and at low tide one could most likely wade out three quarters of the way down the 300-foot pier and still be able to cast.

Believe me, I would have saved a lot of fuel costs if fishing around the SSA dock was so good. I would have simply anchored 200 feet off the dock (the distance between the proposed pier and SSA dock) and fished, but the fish are small, and rarely do you catch one that meets the minimum size requirements. Fish stocks for bottom fish have declined as the catch size has increased and bag limits decreased; hence the population of small fish around the dock. There is no cost to the town for the construction, or significant maintenance. What constitutes significant? The town, I believe is responsible for cleanup (there is no water), garbage removal, 24-hour surveillance or police enforcement, harbor master costs to patrol boats tying up.

I wonder who will be the benefactor of liability? I am sure if a fall occurred on a plastic bait bag at night (there is no lighting), the town will point to the state, and the state will point to the town. This could be one costly fishing pier. I am not sure there would be much benefit directly on the opposite side of the SSA dock, other than cosmetic. Mr. Nash cites the a “true swimming beach” as opposed to the false one on the proposed side, that would be affected. The last time I looked there is about 200 feet of tar and rocks sloping down to the water’s edge. Hint: look to where people fish!

How do you enforce a general public fishing pier? If you want to fish, bring a rod, but what if your significant other does not have rod, can he or she join you on the dock? Six college students, down here for the summer, decide to hit the dock at 2 a.m. to fish; two have rods, but they decide to share them on a rotational basis. Do the four not on rotation stand on shore to wait their turn? This pier will serve as a scenic walkway and hang-out area, and it will be difficult to enforce a fishing-only policy. When fishermen go out to fish and they are with other fishermen, they talk, sometimes loudly. Some fishermen bring beverages, and over the course of the night talk may grow louder. I have witnessed this hundreds of time. On a quiet night, with no wind, it is amazing how even talking at just a slightly louder than normal tone can carry. If you lose the big one, there could even be a shout of profanity. I have been guilty of this! Teaching kids to fish can be done anywhere there is water, pier not necessary. There are several charter/party boats available to people with handicaps if they opt not to fish off the bulkhead in Oak Bluffs, or either bridge along the Beach Road, or Memorial Wharf in Edgartown, or any of the beaches. This pier will be open 24 hours a day; we cannot say when it will get the most use for fishing. It will be across from a bar, and could pose problems. I think we should all take a hard look at the feasibility of even having another structure jut out from shore. With each structure, erosion and deposit will occur somewhere. As Mr. Nash concluded, one of the biggest issues is that the SSA provided access to fishermen and it was taken away. If my memory serves me, there always was a no-trespassing sign on the locked gates. We all simply hopped the fence to fish. The SSA tolerated us fishermen, until we lost the privilege due to the mess we created, and our rudeness to some of the customers waiting for the boat.

Access is still available on either side of the pier for surf-casting anglers to get a line wet. There is always a cost for something perceived as free. More research is needed to determine if an alternate location is better, or if a fishing-walkway pier is even needed in our town.

 

Harvey Russell is a resident of Oak Bluffs.