Mass. Maritime To shut down access for fisherman

[Canalratt1]

I was looking at the On The Water mag last night and saw a small article on this subject. Seems thw M.M.A. went to court to block access to the Ditch through their property! Does anybody know more about this? Would hate to lose one of the prime fishing areas in the Canal.

[JohnR]

That's not cool. I didn't hit that spot much last year but the year before when I was fishing there in the spring, I didn't see much trash or problems that would inluence a shutdown.

It is sad because that will be the loss of a great place to head out from and fish. Maybe MikeCC will have some info...

Later...

[Mike P]

Funny---I was always told that there was a restrictive covenant placed in the deed when the Gallo family conveyed the balance of the present property to MMA. That supposedly guaranteed fishing and recreational access to the grounds. I guess the MMA people found a way around this.

Over the years, they've become distinctly fishermen unfriendly, and I think the philosophy varies from commandant to commandant. In the late 70s and early 80s, they allowed you to fish from the pier. Little by little, they chipped away access. They reduced parking spots, they reduced the number of trash barrels---inviting the semi-paranoid ;-) to wonder whether they wanted a trash condition to arise and provide an excuse. My suspicion also is that the fols who live along Academy Drive also had a hand in this.

Here's what kills me about those yahoos---for years they complained about the fishermen making noise, but the noisiest part of the whole year is the two-week "plebe hell" orientation period in late August, when the freshman class is doing close-order drill and singing--and getting yelled at by senoir cadets---at 5:30 AM.

I hardly ever fish there any more, but it still bothers me that they would do this, and that the courts would back them. It's one of the few places along the Canal that's accessible to the elderly and handicapped, and maybe some enterprising person would consider bringing a suit under the Americans With Disablilites Act to at least allow handicapped access.

[Saltheart]

I agree with Mike P. That is one of the few places someone with bad legs or other handicap could get relatively easy access.

If it really has closed access to fisherman , we should make life miserable for them. Fisherman should organize. There are many legal ways that 1000 irrate fisherman could make life miserable for MMA. See one drop of oil near one of their boats , call the DEP. Hear one loud cadet after 9PM , call the police. See one piece of rust or anti fouling paint being chipped off into the water , call the EPA! Call your politicians and complain. Call MMA and let them know that you as a fisherman are unhappy and will do all you can to block funding , talk against fund raisers , sway public opinion I find it absolutely rediculous that a place whose purpose is to train future seamen would ever limit fishing access.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. While all the fishermen's efforts go into keeper limits and commercial quotas , etc , Our access is slowly being taken away. There will come a time in our lifetime when there will be plenty of Bass and no shore access to get to them.

[Mike P]

MMA has had no shortage of bad publicity over the years---they bought an old rust-bucket of a training ship that almost sank off the east end on its initial training cruise, and had to be towed back to the pier. Eel grass had clogged the cooling intake pipes and the engines overheated. Later, a numbert of cadets died on that hulk in a fire. MMA got rid of it, borrowed the "State of Maine" from Maine Maritime, and returned it in such a mess that Maine never let them use it again. Then, for many eyars MMA had the lowest pass rate on the USCG engineering and third mate exams of any of the 6 or 7 state maritime colleges in the country.

The Bourne PD won't do a damn thing about the loud close-order drill in the early morning or late evenings, nor will their neighbors complain about it. They all turn out to watch, it's free entertainment. They all stand around and laugh as 20 year old "tough guys" make life miserable for a bunch of 17 and 18 year olds---like, you need to know how to march around the deck of a tugboat or the Hyannis/Nantucket ferry, which is where the grads who pass their licensing exams wind up working, for the most part.

If MMA was a private institution, it would be one thing. It's a state college, and moreover, the pier is a state pier. It was built and is maintained by public funds, and above all, about half of the grounds were deeded to MMA under the stipulation that fishing access is always to be available. There's a monument to John Gallo halfway along the drive, which used to read to that effect--it was later changed to something like, "who made this area available for all to enjoy". If they have indeed banned fishing there around the clock, then I can't see how the court ruled in their favor.

All of those things Saltheart mentioned are well and good, but a better way to get the locals on your side would be to not spend a dime in the Town of Bourne. If every Canal fisherman boycotted businesses in Bourne, and instead bought everything from bait and tackle to a cup of coffee in Wareham or Sandwich, sooner or later the Chamber of Commerce would have to do something. Bag the Scallop Fest, too.