Officials Crack Down On Jet Skiing In Sheepshead Waters

Jet ski riders of Jamaica Bay will have to find another place to enjoy the summer weather, zooming and splashing around on their jets.

Well, its either that or the risk of getting caught and fined for performing an illegal action.

Park officials around the Bay are cracking down on the decade-old ban on jet skiing in Jamaica Bay to protect the wildlife in the area, National Parks officials said.

The ban was officially put into place in 2001, yet it has not been enforced over the past decade. Currently however, those caught zipping down the stream are given a warning, or a ticket as high as $75, according the Daily News. These penalties have been in effect since the beginning of the summer season.

The ban has left several Jamaica Bay jet ski riders frustrated and agitated, and operators of jet ski rental companies complain that it’s hurting business.

“We get harassed constantly by (the US Parks Police),” Anthony Stallone, operator of the jet ski rental service at Emmons Avenue’s Venice Marina, told the Daily News.

Stallone, 41, said that he was out on a jet ski with friends, enjoying the sunny weather of early June, when they were bombarded and fined by a hoard of federal officials. Stallone felt as though this was a trap. He said that the officials were waiting for them as soon as they exited the Bay.

Upset or not, unfair or not, riders must decide whether or not they are willing to stand up to the ban and risk being fined, or whether they should just give in, and find another waterway in which jet ski riding is legal.