It is no doubt that the state’s commercial fishing industry is under sheer problem and it has a solution in sight to its problem of not being wanted in others’ back yards. The new bill introduced by Nelson Albano and Matthew Milam, Democratic assemblymen from the Cape May Court House section of Middle Township, can protect the commercial fishing industry from all odds.
According to the information the bill seeks to protect the fishing docks and fish processing facilities from complaints, and establish a conflict resolution procedure where complaints will go to an agriculture panel before heading to court. Scott Mackey, partner at the Trenton-based lobbying firm of MBI Gluckshaw, which represents the Garden State Seafood Association, opined that they fear someone is going to build a large condo complex in close proximity to a commercial fishing dock.
It is explained that the main force behind the bill was a developer’s attempt two years ago to build adjacent to a fishing dock in Cape May, and unsuccessfully try to get the area’s zoning changed from commercial to residential. Mackey is of a view that they have no problem if an adjacent property becomes residential, but it would be inappropriate and unfair to expect those commercial fishing operations to change their practices.
