Fishermen Chased Off Lower Bank Bridge

For more than 15 years, Roger Jennings has been fishing off the Lower Bank Bridge that connects Egg Harbor City and the Lower Bank section of Washington Township in Burlington County.

“It’s a good spot. We usually fish for perch. You can almost catch anything out there — bass, stripers, big ones,” said Jennings, of Egg Harbor Township. He has taken his 6-year-old grandson to enjoy the beautiful spot and learn to fish.

But suddenly this year, authorities from Washington Township have been chasing fishermen away, pointing to posted signs prohibiting the activity.

 Fishing has never been legal there, said Mayor Dudley Lewis, but concerns about safety and parking have caused the township to begin enforcing its ordinance for the first time this year. Officials have sent the code enforcement officer out to tell people to leave.

“The problem is people came out and set up lawn chairs in the driving part of the bridge, with their fishing poles, ice chests. It’s a hazard to traffic,” said Lewis. “I’ve even seen beach umbrellas out there.”

The bridge was last replaced by Burlington County about 25 years ago. In 1990, the state Pinelands Commission instructed it via letter to include a fishing platform as a condition of approval. 

That never happened.

Now the question is, can the county and township say fishing is a safety hazard there and must stop, or is it still under obligation to provide for safe fishing there?

Commission staff members are looking into whether Burlington County ever addressed the issue and gave legitimate reasons for prohibiting fishing there, spokesman Paul Leakan said.

And Burlington County spokesman Eric Arpert said he needs to go back into old files to see what other steps might have been taken with the commission so long ago.

Lewis said anglers have also parked on private property, prompting complaints from residents. The number of complaints increased recently, he said.

Amy Howell recently rebuilt a property on the Egg Harbor City side right next to the bridge. It had been empty for decades, and it’s where people previously parked, Lewis said.

“That closed off parking there and made the parking problem worse on our side of the bridge,” said Lewis. “A whole bunch of things came into play.”

Howell said she has lived there about a year and a half, and she knows people blame her for the fishing ban on the bridge.

But she said she is focused on keeping strangers off her private property. People had used it for so long, many got angry when she moved in and no longer gave them access to parking and fishing there, she said.

She went to the Egg Harbor City police for help because she felt threatened, she said.

“Just don’t trespass on my property or threaten me. The bridge is not my business, this is my business,” she said of her land.

Her friend Kathy Gitto, who has lived in Lower Bank about a year, said she thinks safety is a big issue on the bridge.

“Sometimes there are 30 or 40 people there. It’s crazy,” she said. “When we Jet Ski or kayak, you have to watch out for the fishing lines. And the trash is terrible.”

Jennings and other fishermen like his son-in-law Lester Mickel, of Egg Harbor Township, said they have not seen interference with traffic, and the bridge keeper had long kept a large trash bag there that fishermen used. They suspect someone just doesn’t want them there.

“I think it’s a cultural issue,” said Egg Harbor City Councilwoman Hazel Mueller, whose son and his family live near the bridge on the Lower Bank side. She said many Asian, black and Hispanic people fish there, and it’s a tradition that is important in their cultures.

Many don’t have the money for a boat, she said, but they and their children can enjoy nature by fishing from the bridge.

She wants fishing to be allowed, and more emphasis put on slowing down traffic, she said.

“More and more, I think it’s a discriminatory thing,” said Howard Sefton, who owns Captain Howard’s Bait and Tackle Shop in Egg Harbor City. He has collected about 200 signatures on a petition to allow fishing on the bridge, he said.

 Lewis said he understands that people like to fish from bridges because they get access to deeper channels.

There are other nearby spots to fish legally, he said, including off a bulkhead in Green Bank and off the Wading River Bridge farther northwest in Washington Township.

Lewis’ father lobbied for a fishing platform on that bridge when it was replaced, and got it, Lewis said.

But for fishermen whose favorite spot is the Lower Bank Bridge, that argument falls flat.

“People just want to fish, that’s all,” Barry Clark, of Galloway Township, said as he cast a line from a small beach at the base of the bridge in Lower Bank. He’d be on the bridge if he could, he said.

Contact: 609-272-7219

MPost@pressofac.com

Twitter @MichelleBPost

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/press/atlantic/fishermen-chased-off-lower-bank-bridge/article_2dcf0652-098c-11e6-a379-2ffe196d7fd9.html

(Howard Sefton, who owns Captain Howard’s Bait and Tackle Shop in Egg Harbor City. He has collected about 200 signatures on a petition to allow fishing on the bridge.  If you would like to see fishing on the bridge, pay him a visit and add your name to the petition.)

Related post
http://gadfly01.blogspot.com/2016/03/no-activities-allowed-on-lower-bank.html

Press Editorial 5/11/2016
http://gadfly01.blogspot.com/2016/05/press-editorial-fishing-on-lower-bank.html