Assemblymember Steven Cymbrowitz Joins Fight Against Footbridge Fishing
To fish or not to fish. That is the question.
There’s no question about it in Assemblymember Steven Cymbrowitz’s eyes when it comes to the Ocean Avenue Footbridge, according to Kings County Politics. Cymbrowitz called for an outright ban on fishing from the footbridge, but there are some barriers of interpretation in the way.
Last month we reported on Councilmember Chaim Deutsch’s call for enforcement of the current rule’s which state that fishing isn’t allowed on the bridge. The sign that is on the bridge doesn’t state that outright, however, it simply shows a stick figure casting a line with a cancel sign over it.
Cymbrowitz’s office has been getting battered with complaints of fishermen coming close sinking hooks into passers-by on the bridge, but others don’t see the danger.
“It doesn’t cause any public hazard other than hurting the people fishing there,” said a local fisherman who wished to remain anonymous. “It’s all political, like anything else.”
Neighborhood anglers say people have fished from the bridge for as long as the bridge has been there, and they don’t want to stop now.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) lists the footbridge as a spot to fish in their NYC Saltwater Fishing Guide. This makes the legality of fishing on the bridge even more murky. The signs at the bridge are from the Department of Transportation, a city agency. This conflict between city and state needs to be amended, according to Cymbrowitz.
“Although the City has already banned fishing off the bridge, we need to make sure that the State’s regulations are uniform with the City’s. Currently this is not the case,” said Cymbrowitz. “This clarification should prevent people from getting hurt because of jurisdictional confusion and safety is our first priority.”
Cymbrowtiz wrote a letter to the DEC commissioner Basil Seggos last week, asking for clarification on the law and that it gets reversed if it is, in fact, legal to fish from the bridge under state law.
“I am requesting that if it is the position of NYS DEC to permit fishing on the bridge, that this policy should be reversed,” Cymbrowitz wrote in the letter. “If no such policy exists, the location should be removed from the guide and explicitly marked as prohibited in DEC’s publications for the purpose of clarification.”
The local fisherman who saw no problem with fishing from the bridge acknowledged the signs stating it isn’t allowed, and conceded that there are other great spots to fish.
“In the bay, you can fish anywhere along the sea wall on the Manhattan Beach side and the very end of Sheepshead Bay there’s a decent sized pier,” said the anonymous fisherman. “Along the beach at Mill Basin, anywhere along the beach where there’s public access is all good for fishing. The problem is parking. People are unwilling to walk a quarter mile to get there.”
He said the fishing is also excellent at the Canarsie Piers, which has parking.
The footbridge, however, is good for specific types of fishing. In the summertime, it’s a great spot for blue fish and striped bass, according to the fisherman. The winter brings the herring to the footbridge, which is a culinary staple in Russian cuisine.
Here is what the DEC had to say:
“While DEC is the state agency that oversees the natural resources of the state and regulates fishing in New York, legal fishing locations are determined by the owners of the land and/or water body, whether it be a municipality or an individual, and in this case, the City of New York does not allow fishing at this location.”
They also added that they are in the process of removing the location from their saltwater fishing guide.