It was on March 30th 2020 when NJ Conservation Police Officers performed a sting operation to catch poachers working the back bay waters near Atlantic City. They watched and waited through the night for the fishermen to arrive back at the dock. When they did they found two men in possession of 66 illegally taken short striped bass. It's amazing to think that just four years ago the regulations were two per angler per day, one fish 28-43 inches and a second greater than 43 inches. So if you went out your buddies boat and legally harvested a 40 and 45 inch striped bass, easy to do these days, you would have about 70 pounds of bass in the cooler, not fillets, but in whole fish. Just say a party boat had fifty guys on it and they were on them good that day....guys that's why we have a problem.
In the above case each angler was issued summonses totaling $12,800 in fines for their illegal poaching activities. While we always laud the efforts of law enforcement and are entertained by the posting or press releases of the officers efforts, rarely are the name of the accused published, or the outcomes of the cases after the are heard in court. Any other arrests done by law enforcement usually publish the names of the accused, but not so much when it comes to certain wildlife violations.
Back in 2018 a trio of West of the Border guys were caught and issued summonses for poaching. I did find out the disposition of their cases in Brielle Municipal Court. If they got busted in Brielle they were most likely poaching the Manasquan River, a well known hotspot for illegal activity. Below are the fines they racked up,
I wanted to see how the NJ DEC Conservation Police reported to the public the activities and arrests made by the department. I went to the NJ DEC website looking, and I didn't find much. There was a history of the department narrative and then at the bottom of the page
were various links to department related news and press releases. The most recent "News" were press releases dated from 2020. They must have eliminated the spokesman and social media person from the budget. I have found navigating through New Jersey's various department websites to be lacking and untimely, almost a joke, and not very transparent.
There are some Annual Reports from the DEC but no year end statistics on striped bass issued violations. What I did learn was that in New Jersey there are about 60 conservation officers that cover the entire state of New Jersey. For comparison Red Bank, a town that is one square mile, has 45 officers. So needless to say the department has a daunting task of enforcing wildlife laws both on land and on the water.
During my internet search I found more, like the above, press releases regarding poaching. They all just say the same thing, who (officers), what, when, and where. It's almost like they are trying to protect the accused, you don't see that with shoplifting, DUI's, or possession types of incidents. Maybe it has to do with the fact that on one hand you have violations written and the other arrests? I'm no lawyer and I'm not sure on that. But I think publishing names might be a deterrent for some who practice catch and poach fishing, which usually isn't a one-time thing.
The NY DEC put out a press release a few weeks back detailing operations during the early days in December 2024. They found the poachers busy at work in and around New York City, specifically in Queens, Staten Island, and Nassau County.
Poaching isn't limited to those on foot. Each fall we hear of private and for-hire Captains pushing the limits and fishing outside of the three mile line in the EEZ, or Exclusive Economic Zone. That area, from 3 - 200 miles off the coast are federal waters, and fall under the jurisdiction of NOAA. You would think the US Coast Guard would have easy pickens finding these law-breakers but we rarely hear of that. Usually all it takes it one USCG vessel to make take the drive out and around to get everyone to play by the rules,
which lasts for a couple of days, and then those that fish like that head back over the line. "It's big deal", "That's where the fish are", "I do it for my clients (and that tip)". Now I'm not innocent here, I have found myself mistakingly caught up in the flotilla over that line, and called out by another Captain, before retreating inside, all alone, with no fish around.
This kind of ties in to the latest posts regarding wintering over striped bass. Oyster Creek used to be a pinch point where the law and poachers used to meet, but that has been shut down. Our back bay and river fishery here in New Jersey is closed for the targeting and harvest of striped bass due to the high fish concentrations in certain areas when they winter over. They say, in years past, it was easy, but cold, to drag out the boat and find the fish hunkered down in the deep holes and channels and be able to consistently catch, and if you're going out there in the dead of winter, to keep.
I tip my hat to the LEO's who choose this line of work where the task is daunting, with not enough officers and too much area to cover. And they just don't do striped bass and other fishes, it's deer, and bears, and turkeys, and anything else wildlife. New Jersey isn't the only place where Bad Boyz do their dirty work. Down in and around the Chesapeake, NYC, the Housatonic and Connecticut Rivers, the Providence River and the Boston Harbor all have the same types because poachers are poachers.
It's just another obstacle striped bass have to face. Every. Single. Day.