A lot of action with Delaware coast implications

We have two news items that concern the Atlantic Ocean off the Delaware coast.

The first was released by the Interior Department March 15. They named the areas that will be up for bid as oil leases. Ten are in the Gulf of Mexico and three are in Alaska. No areas off the East Coast will be included.

I am sure over the next few weeks there will be much chest beating and bragging about how every individual and group that opposed offshore oil exploration is responsible for this decision. Trust me, they had little, if anything, to do with it.

I can promise you that the decision makers at the Interior Department didn’t ask any of these folks where they would like to explore for oil and gas. They asked the oil companies. And with oil prices low, the oil companies don’t want to spend any more money than necessary to find new deposits. The Gulf of Mexico and Alaska already have the equipment and personnel there and ready to look for other sites. This was a business decision, plain and simple, and to quote Mae West, “Goodness had nothing to do with it.” Should oil return to $150 per barrel, rigs will pop up off the Delaware coast like pimples on a teenager’s face.

While this is good news, the next is not. A group in New Jersey is proposing to make Raritan Bay from Sandy Hook to the Ammo Pier all the way back and up the Raritan River a marine-protected area. For those unfamiliar with this area, it would be like closing Delaware Bay and River from Bowers Beach to Chester.

As they often do in these situations, the group is new, but you can bet they are getting funds from such organizations as the Pew Trust. Pew is funded by Sun Oil money and they have bottomless pockets.

So far, to the best of my knowledge, no particular group has suggested an MPA for any water off the Delaware coast, but you can be sure it is coming. There are any number of well-funded groups like PETA, the Humane Society of the United States, Defenders of Wildlife and, of course, the Pew Charitable Trust that would like nothing better than to stop all fishing and hunting. They have had success in California and Florida by using the National Park Service to their advantage. In North Carolina, they have been able to close the Point at Cape Hatteras during the peak of the spring fishing season.

The one advantage we have in Delaware is the beaches are still owned by the state. Since the Parks Department receives thousands of dollars from the Seashore State Parks it is unlikely they would be willing to turn it over to the feds. Sen. Tom Carper now has his national park well away from the water, so I would hope he no longer has designs on the Delaware Bay or Atlantic Coast.

Unfortunately, the ocean from three miles on out to 200 miles is under federal control. I have heard rumblings from individuals about establishing MPAs in federal waters without the mention of any specific area. We need to be aware that this is always a possibility, and if a plan is offered we must fight it on every level and hope our senators and congressman will support us.

Fishing report

The Rehoboth Star out of Southshore Marina fished for tog on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, they had three fish over 10 pounds, with a 12.5-pound pool winner. As is so often the case, Sunday proved to be not as good, with dirty water to blame. The pool winner that day was a 6-pound tog.

I saw a few photos from the surf where dog sharks and skates were the fish of the day. With the ocean water temperature still around 45 degrees, it will be a while before anything else moves into the beach.

The upper reaches of the tidal creeks and rivers have seen good numbers of white and yellow perch. The yellow perch run is slowing down, but the run of white perch is just beginning. Small minnows fished on a jig will always attract the perch, as will bloodworms, earthworms, grass shrimp and small spinners.

The ponds continue to produce bass, pickerel and crappie. You may have to hit a few places before finding concentrations of fish, but once you find them the action is usually steady.

I always like to fish the spillways in the spring. Back in the day, we caught herring and American shad on darts. Today, those fish are off limits, although hickory shad remain a catchable species with a 10-fish limit. In addition to the shad, there are perch, pickerel and even bass in the Sussex County spillways.


Eric Burnley is a Delaware native who has fished and hunted the state from an early age.  Eric can be reached at Eburnle@aol.com.