Wind Turbines Could Hurt Fishing and Scallops.

Listen to audio clips from ‘Shep on Fishing’ WOND 1400am Radio show, Feb 9.

John Toth of Jersey Coast Anglers:

• 2018 recreational fishing regs likely to stay the same as last year.
• Offshore Wind Turbines (energy producing wind-mills). 17-20 miles offshore. Gov Murphy wants this. Bad.
• Migrating birds at risk.
• Powerlines that connect turbines with inshore based powerplant gives off electro-magnetic waves that can cause problems with fish migration patterns
• Whales and other fish very sensitive to noise.
• Ripping up ocean floor in order to bury power lines. Disrupting marine habitat.
• Wind Turbines: Up to 800 ft in height.
• Proposed sites for turbines will negatively affect valuable scallop beds.

Other topics discussed: Ocean City got more time to dredge back bay marinas. Maybe Margate will get OK to do the same. New Jersey has very limited coastal fishing access.

At the Feb. 7 Margate Commissioners meeting: We learn that the Margate Fishing Pier has been in conversation with the NJ DEP to extend the pier by 125 ft.

The Anglers Club at Margate Fishing Pier is located at Exeter Ave & the beach in Margate.

NJ State is paying for the extension….with one caveat. Pier needs to have some level of public access.

Project should start OCT 2019. Margate Fishing Pier. It’s ‘high and dry’ most of the time. Margate City has concerns about liability issues.