Salt Water Anglers of Bergen County, New Jersey

 2026 Fishing Regulations for Fluke, Sea Bass and Porgies

Fluke – 3 Fluke at 18 inches or greater with the season starting May 4th and ending on September 25th

Sea Bass - 12 1/2 inches minimum size for all seasons -  10 fish May 15-June 21, 1 fish June 22 - September 22, 10 fish September 23 - October 31, 15 fish November 1- December 31

Porgies/Scup – 10 inch minimum size for seasons January 1st to June 30th and September 1st until December 31st.

Striped Bass - 1 fish 28 to 31 inches - no closed seasons  - (Bonus Program 1 fish 24 inches to less than 28 inches (May 15 - December 31) 

Bluefish - no minimum size or closed seasons 

5 fish from private boat or shore - 7 fish from for hire-fleets (party/charter)

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Less Blackfish to catch in 2027 – like 40% less!

By John Toth

On July 7th, a meeting was held by the New Jersey DEP to hear comments from advisors on an impending 40% cut of our blackish quota during 2027. Jeff Brust, Bureau Chief, NJ Marine Fisheries, hosted this meeting to hear input from anglers who have an extensive background on this fishery.

A recent stock assessment provided by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) indicated that overfishing for blackfish in our New York and New Jersey region has been occurring and that a severe cutback of 40% is necessary to bring back the stocks of these fish to a better level.

How can a 40% reduction of this fishery be achieved? There are basically three ways to do it and that involves bag limits, size limit and season adjustments. For example, if we change the 15 inch size to 16 inches, we would possibly achieve a 26 % reduction of our blackfish quota. The downside of this approach is that anglers are already having difficulty in catching blackfish that are 15 inch in size and 16 inches only makes keeping a legal blackfish more difficult. Trying to catch a legal size blackfish means that we have to throw back so many undersized fish back with some resulting in their mortality.

Changing the bag limit from 5 fish to 4 fish in the November 15th to 12/31 is another way to address this issue. However this option makes it less attractive for anglers to go fishing given the cost of the trip and gas. The same goes for reducing the seasons for anglers to catch these fish.

The bottom line is that there are no easy answers to achieve a 40% reduction in our quota to catch blackfish!  There has to be some pain in the recreational community to absorb this type of reduction.

There will be more meetings hosted by the DEP with advisors to determine how this reduction can be met with the least damage to the recreational community. Advisors will be shown various options to reach the 40% reduction and then recommend which option they prefer. I will keep you posted on the results of these meetings.

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Update on whether surfers and anglers will be required to buy a beach badge

By John Toth

Background:

During August of last year in Belmar, police patrols were increased due to people avoiding to purchase a beach badge to use the beach. A California surfer, Liam Mahoney, was on his way to surf with his wet suit and surf board. He was asked by police to show his beach badge. His beach badge was on his equipment, but for some reason known only to him, he walked away from the police without indicating that he had the badge. Not responding to questions by police and walking away from them is a crime and police charged him with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and obstruction of justice that left him in the sand with handcuffs.

During the arrest, a woman, later identified as Liam’s sister shouted at police “Why are you arresting him, his badge is right here.” A video taken by a beachgoer that day showing only the latter part of the incident between Mahoney and the police was widely distributed. The Belmar police were strongly criticized for using excessive force in their confrontation with Mahoney. The video prompted a petition drive on change.org to “decriminalize beach access,” which garnered more than 1,400 signatures in three days.

On learning about this incident, Assemblywoman Maggie Donlon (D Monmouth), who is also an avid surfer for over two decades, introduced a bill A 4816 to the legislature to address this issue. This bill would prohibit a municipality from requiring a municipal beach badge or admission pass for access to the wet sandy beach below the mean high tide for a surfer or angler for the exclusive purpose of surfing or fishing.

Update:

On June 3rd, Liam Mahoney, 29, took a plea deal in Belmar’s municipal court and pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, obstruction of justice and resisting arrest as well as the beach badge ordinance. His fines and court costs for all the offenses, including the beach badge ordinance, totaled $1,410. If Mahoney successfully completes a year of probation, the disorderly person offenses will be dismissed.

I am not sure that this is the final chapter of this story. The video of his arrest stirred a lot of anger, especially in the angler and the surfer communities who resent paying a fee to go surfing and fishing on the beach. Having a beach badge is not the only issue surfers and anglers have to contend with since a number of municipalities prevent the public from accessing their beaches by restricting the number of available parking spaces. Also, some beach residents illegally place “no fishing signs’ or place obstructions with fences to prevent access to their nearby beaches.

Assemblywoman Donlon’s bill to oppose beach badges for surfers and anglers will be strongly opposed by the League of Municipalities. They will not support any bill that would reduce or eliminate revenues derived from their sale of beach badges.

Perhaps Assemblywoman Donlon will receive some support for her bill by the results of a recent poll conducted by Stockton University’s Hughes Center for Public Policy conducted during June 18th to the 25th with 606 residents. This poll showed that the majority of New Jersey residents think that the state’s beaches should be free, and that half of the respondents believe that beach badges cost too much. Statewide, 65% of survey participants “think that beaches are a public resource, and that they should be free to New Jersey residents. Interestingly, Atlantic City and Wildwood are two locations along our shore that do not require beach badges for public access to their beaches.

When this incident occurred in Belmar and went on video showing police handcuffing Mahoney while he was lying in the sand, there was a lot of public outcry and anger over his arrest. While it seems that this should all be over with Mahoney paying his fine in court, I do think that it will not go away so easily since resentment is still there especially with the surfing community over their access to use a public beach without a beach badge.

I will keep you posted with any new developments to this beach badge story  

(Asbury Park Press, July 5th)