Well, I think those of us who fish that area pretty much knew it was gonna happen, it was just a matter of time.

If any of you fished there this past season, the reasons were abundantly clear - the shoreline was completely trashed with everything from bales of discarded mono to broken bottles, food wrappers, bait boxes, bags of garbage and even dirty disposable diapers (!).

In short, it was pretty damned disgusting to see a beautiful area trashed like that, and I left the place angry and cussing more than a few times.

The report on proposed usage changes was published in Friday's Newport Daily News - it was probably published in the ProJo too but with a weekend full of holiday stuff to do I didn't get a chance to proofread my Journal, so this may be old news for ya.

Anyway, it said jogging, dogwalking, bicycling, sunbathing and swimming will be phased out by 2005.

And "to battle ongoing problems with vandalism and littering, Deputy Refuge Manager Ware said people who fish at night will need to obtain a permit from the Fish and Wildlife Service to use the 242 acre Refuge. Details and a timetable for the new program are still being worked out."

"Ware said in the coming months, Fish & Wildlife personnel would focus on educating refuge users about the pending changes and would gradually shift to enforcement."

GOOD! It's about time they do something with that area. Although resricting access to the shore isn't the best soloution.

I am glad that they are going to allow us to fish there with a permit.

Yeah, I agree - I just hope it's not the thin edge of the wedge in terms of further restrictions.

I've NEVER seen Sachuest look worse than it did this past year and that includes the days of my youth (several hundred years ago) when you could drive all the way around the Point and there was no one there to keep an eye on it.

Ya know, Tattoo, the funny part is that while there has been vandalism to vehicles at night, the biggest contributor to the trashing of Sachuest was the daytime encampments that were there for those scup the size of a skillet that were there this season.

Oh, you mean the ones that CAN'T SPEAK ENGLISH!

It could just as easily be the frikin' yahoos that trash down the end of my street every couple months. Ahhhzwipes can't even through the trash in the barrel FIVE feet from where the were sitting. Imagine that, a pile of trash 5 feet from an half empty barrel.... And the fools speak english between guzzles of really bad beer (do they still sell PBRs??)

biggest darn conga eel i ever caught came from sachuest. One of the more beautiful spots to fish in my neighborhood. maybe having to get a permit isn't such a bad idea. need to have proof of citizenship to get one, don't ya.....

Easy guys, just because our grandfathers were FORCED to lose their language doesn't mean that we need to make everyone else fall in step.

I don't excuse anyone from being a pig either. I live next to a golf course and there is at least one trashcan on every hole. We sometimes walk there after closing and usually have too much trash to carry by the time I reach the next trash can. Let me tell you most of the people who go ther speak perfect english............

This is an interesting subject, the "steroetype" of the "no-speaky-inglish" fisher being the one most likely to trash an area and/or keep undersized fish. I don't think that we need to brand people as rule breakers based on their former nationality (assuming that they are making strides to become Americans -if they're not legally here, I say seeyalaterbye)... And if they break the rules that the rest of us live by - too bad, time to open their wallets. I really think better methods can be employeed to discourage those that "no-speaky" to adhere to the rules - like a fine. Whack 'em in the wallet once or twice and the word will get out real quick.

But it may be too easy of a moniker to place on someone that because there is trash and shorts, they must be immigrants or illegals or don't speak English (I spell lousy too)... I've seen far, far too often that offenders are usually caucasion amuricans screwing the enviornment, not just the first generation crowd. If anyone doubts this, just swing by Conimicutt Point during the snapper run or Salty Brine when the scups in. Fine 'em all. Doesn't matter if it's "white trash" or the boys at the Yacht Club (in the voice of Thurston Howell the 15th)

Fishpart, Our grandfathers were forced to change languages, which they often did more than willingly, and some managed to maintain their native tounge when among their own which is cool too, but I think that when someone comes to this country, they are obligated to do several things:

Adhere to the intent of our Constitution.
Respect the rules and regulations the rest of us adhere to.
Learn and accept reasonable integration into our society.
Be respectful of others.
Do not attempt to take advantage of our country.
Not to be subversive in any way (major differences between being subversive and voicing opinion).
Learn English.
MUST ACTIVELY BECOME A US CITIZEN.

More or less, that's what out grandparents and great-grandparents did, and I think anyone that comes in should be required to do the same.

Those same rules above should be goals of every Nth generation American too... MHO

Another slant on new Americans: but first let us not forget when our forefathers arrived here and after surviving the first winter with the help of the local native americans (got a little cocky) did try to kill the locals off by importing smallpox laden blankets from the homeland, and then made them a gift to King Phillip and all his buddies. Yup we were real nice people when we got off the boat.
Back to the thread: It is common knowledge that certain cultural/ethnic groups have different and sometimes disturbing habits. Persons from S'east Asia while taking everything they catch generally are very clean and do not trash the shoreline. I have personally entered living quarters that were only meant for four or five people in this country and found 27 S'east Asians living in that apartment and sleeping on nothing more than mats at night. The apartment was spotless.
Some peoples come here because it is a land of opportunity where they can get ahead with hard work, and other peoples come here because you can get ahead with little or no work. Go figure. Whose fault is that?
Te real reason all the new americans are here is because they supply the labor demand that producers of various goods need. Even if they are not qualified to help produce any of these goods once they enter this country they enter the labor market and quite unknowlingly they help deflate the manufacturing cost of goods down, because they are here standing in an imaginery line waiting to be trained to help manufacture whatever is needed to be made. They help keep the hourly rage rates down that manufacturers all over the country would have to pay if the pool of unemployed workers dried up completely, because if the pool of workers dried up then the worker would completely dictate the labor market and not the overpaid putz who wears the suit. So let them fish and let them join our fishing clubs and let them assimilate in "our"society. Just my two cents.