As the old LBI saying goes, It’s better in September. Of course, for surfcasters the very best arrives in October when the cows come home. But once summer crowds are gone, with badge-free beaches from Sandy Hook to Cape May after Labor Day, it’s a great time for a little fall run structure recon with light tackle outfit in hand on the hunt for fluke, perhaps the season’s first albie flare-ups.
This month many municipalities open up beach buggy registration as well. If you’re looking to get into beach driving, visit the New Jersey Beach Buggy Association (NJBBA) website. A statewide organization dedicated to the preservation of natural beach resources, the NJBBA has been fighting to preserve beach access since its founding in 1954. At NJBBA.org, you’ll find a section called Beach Access Info that lists essential access information including areas of the Jersey Shore that offer drive-on access.
NJBBA was founded upon a handshake between NJBBA’s first President Jeff Paul and then commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Conservation & Economic Development department Salvatore A. Bontempo; this agency was the forerunner of today’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Island Beach State Park (IBSP) was purchased for $2.7 million by the state back in 1953 from Henry C. Phipps, the 2,694-acre parcel of prime beachfront property in Ocean County officially opening as a state park in 1959.
As detailed in the October 2024 edition of The Fisherman in an article by Bob Lick (“Happy 70th: IBSP & NJBBA, Perfect Together”) during the Phipps family ownership fishermen with beach buggies were embraced. “Fishermen would apply for a pass, issued by the Mayor of Island Beach (Francis Freeman, then Joseph Tilton) until New Jersey’s purchase,” wrote Lick, adding “All pass applicants had to have two pass holders as sponsors prior to receiving a pass.”
While the permitting process has changed a bit, IBSP beach driving was memorialized from those earliest days of NJBBA/IBSP history. That is, until it wasn’t. Under Governor Phil Murphy’s DEP commissioner, Shawn LaTourette, beach buggy access for surfcasters at IBSP was left in ruins due to technological limitations with online processing, coupled with a half-baked lottery and limited enforcement of the rules. While LaTourette apparently believed the online lottery would be fair and equitable, many warned it would only lead to confusion, denied access, and the counterfeiting of permits. Thus, while surfcaster’s concerns were ignored by the last DEP administration, actual enforcement of beach-driving rules this season under a new DEP administration has revealed a bitter truth.
“New Jersey State Parks Police are investigating three cases involving use of fraudulent Mobile Sport Fishing Vehicle permits at Island Beach State Park,” said NJDEP press director Larry Hajna, adding “One individual was charged with Theft of Services (N.J.S.A. 2C:20-8A) and is pending adjudication in municipal court. Charges are also pending for second individual.”
There’s a relatively simple fix for the problems created by the former DEP commissioner –simply eliminate the annual cap of 8,000 buggy permits sold, while retaining the existing daily limit of 500 buggy permits allowed to fish the beach at any one time. Ed Potosnak, the new “acting” DEP commissioner, can undo the LaTourette mess himself. Or, the New Jersey legislature can mandate it.
This past May, Assemblyman Alex Sauickie (District 12) introduced Assembly Bill 4940 to lift the random cap on total permits sold, require proof of valid saltwater angler registration, while also dedicating 10% of the annual permit proceeds towards IBSP maintenance. The bill is co-sponsored by Assembly reps Dawn Fantasia (District 24) and Gregory P. McGuckin (District 10), with a matching Senate Bill S4317 introduced by senators James W. Holzapfel (District 10) and Carmen F. Amato, Jr. (District 9).
Like surfcasters to the beach, the New Jersey legislature also returns after Labor Day; hopefully they address this mess once and for all, before those jumbo stripers return.
