Little did my Grandparents know, that the first time they took their son (my dad) fishing, it would open up a future career. Dad was 8 years old the first time he fished with Uncle Willie Balletti, on the Palace, from Hoboken...Willie took a liking to the young boy and after a few trips, actually let him "hold the wheel". From that day on he always said he was going to own a boat and be a Captain, unlike everyone else at the time who wanted to be a Fireman or Policeman. My grandparents laughed and thought it was just a phase....At 19, Capt.Ron Sr. passed his first C.G. exam.
Purchasing an old 45 footer that had been in a fire and somewhere on the Passaic river. Hard work and help from the grandparents got the boat running. He named her "Fisherboy" and sailed out of the Sandy Hook Bay Marina. Back then you had to stand on the road a mile away from where the boat was, trying to flag customers in to sail. 3 or 4 customers were a blessing a nd just enough t o get to the grocery store...you worried about the bills later! Fishing back then was unforgettable! Whiting by the sack, Beautiful Cod, ling, Tuna (blue fins and giants) in the Mud hole. Just about all of the customers were blue collar guys, many worked in the textile miles in Paterson or the steel mills in P.A. With none of the equipment available today, you would set out for a day's fishing. If it were foggy, you had an egg timer on the dash set for the 1 can in the bay, from there, a course around the hook, then time and course to the fishing grounds......radar? Don't think it was invented yet, even if it was, who could afford it!! I doubt very much todays fishermen realizes how lucky he is. Growing up I remember the only time I really got to spend time with my father was when I went fishing, only problem was, I would always get sea sick!
I can still feel the fear of getting out of bed to go to the boat, the smell of diesel exhaust, knowing the i nevitable would happen..It took years of the old finger down the throat to make it go away....coming home with a pocket full of money at 14 didn't hurt either! By the time I got my license at 18, things where already changing....The whiting were just about done, the desemation of the Giant tuna had started because some-one said they taste great raw! Cod fishing was non-excistant anymore. We did have Bluefish, which was the Summer fish, (long before the Fluke stocks re-bounded). Just about every boat in Atlantic Highlands blue-fished. Weak fish in the 80's was phenonominal, fish from 8 to 14 pounds was the norm. We would run an afternoon trip and call it "Magic Hours" because it was like magic how the fish turned on after all the boat traffic went home. The Fluke fishing came back with evengance, the bluefish boats gave up the day fishing , switched to Fluke and added Bluefish to the afternoon trips....Life was good, 2 trips a day 7 days a week, fed two family's for y ears....NOAA, the keeper of the gate, finally figured out we needed a 200 mile limit, unfortuanatly it was too late. The foreign fleets had already done their damage. Herring and Macrell, which Americans really don't eat were allowed to be caught by the tons, little did they realize that these were two of the biggest forage fish in the ocean! Life evolved from this food source.
Fish management, as it's called, started to take place. Since, we have seen an 'endangered species', "the dogfish" come back with avengance, they now eat everything in the ocean, tiny Sea Bass, Porgies, anything that swims. Someone even got an award for saving them! Fluke Bio-mass has gone up four fold on the backs of the fishermen. We've gone from 14 inch fish to 17 inch and god knows what for this year. Paying our dues all the way, where's the reward! Now we have enviromental lobbiests telling the Gov. what to do...and they listen.....I look at my Dads career and try to see through his eyes, the changes , the hardships, the memories and I see the Lion in the cage, who once was proud, strong and free, being fed his daily ration of crap by forces he can't control. We are all proud, hard working men in this business. How many guys do you know that work 7 days a week, for months on end, year after year? What has been in my family for 53 years, I fear, can not be passed on to my son, not because there's nothing left, because we are being regulated out of business. Imagine your grandchild one day saying "Grampy, they really had boats that would take people out fishing?"
Several groups are out there fighting for our rights, RFA is one of them. The Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund is another. Formed from everyone in the business, Party, Charter, Bait and Tackle shops, Suppliers, Tackle Manufacturers, recreational and commercial fishermen. We need fresh data, science and help from everyone who hopes for a future fis hery. I surely don't want this to sound like a fund raiser, but you can see how desperate the situation we're in. Doesn't matter if you make your living on the sea or not, we surely need your help. Please get on-board. Capt.Ron Santee Jr/Fishermen/Atlantic Highlands/SSFFF member