president's message - June 2026

This just touches base with the amount of work and sleepless nights that have gone into this process of getting our fisherman back on Island Beach State Park. On March 16th, George Browne, Public Access Chair for Berkeley Striper Club: Scott Thomas of Grumpy’s and Yakkity Yaks Kayaks and myself testified at the Senate Environment Committee Hearing and opposed S-303 which was introduced by Senator Turner (D-15) and Senator Amato (R-9). They went ahead and pushed the bill through, but we were told that a meeting would be set up so the bill could be amended. Paul Novelo contacted his legislator and set up a meeting on March 20 with Assemblyman Alex Sauickie (R-12) and his Deputy Chief of Staff John Kingston. Six of us sat down with the two and they listened to what we had to say. Alex took notes and told us he would draft a bill that would cover our requests. Assemblyman Sauickie has sponsored A-4940 and roughly a month later, a Senate companion bill S-4317 was sponsored by Senator Holzapfel (R-10) and Senator Amato (R-9). Jim Hutchinson Jr. joined us for this meeting and has written a good editorial in the June edition of the Fisherman about this and can be read here: https://www.thefisherman.com/article/editors-log-in-with-the-new/ April 20th, six of us met in Tom’s River to discuss our strategies for the future Stakeholder meeting. Anthony Pensabene, NJOA-UCF joined George, Paul, Jim, Scott and myself. The meeting went very well and we had a good idea how we were going to discuss details. On May 6th, George and I attended a virtual meeting with the Ed Potosnak, DEP Commissioner; John Cecil, DEP Asst. Commissioner; Senator Amato and his Chief of Staff, Jason Smith; Senator Turner; Assemblyman Myhre and Bryana De Veaux, Legislative Affairs Director. At the meeting, all the issues were discussed and we talked about the future Stake Holder meeting. On May 10th, Rebecca Fitzgerald, NJ State Parks Administrator led the stake holders meeting at the IBSP office. It was well attended with representatives from local groups and tackle shops along with Jen and Charlie from Island Beach; Tom Fote; John Cecil; Jeffrey Brust; State Park Police Chief; Groups represented: Friends of Island Beach; Berkeley Striper Club; New Jersey Beach Buggy Assoc; Jersey Coast Anglers Assoc.; New Jersey Federation; NJOA – United Conservationist Foundation, Inc; Association of Surf Angling Clubs; Hudson River Fishing Assoc. Nothing is written in stone as of yet, but we are looking for 1) unlimited permit sales; 2) NJ Saltwater Registry as a requirement for a MSFV permit; 3) 10 % of sales to go back to IBSP. The need for reservations was brought up and discussed, the group asked a bunch of questions and in the end, they said they will use the 2027 season for taken notes to see if such a system is even needed. All of the stakeholders are dead set against it. For this season, they said that weekday passes will go on sale on October 1st and will be good for the whole week. I have to commend George Browne for being the ‘Go to Guy’ who is leading the way, he and a group of us have been non-stop with the task in hand. We ask that you may look up your Legislators at : (https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/district-map) and request that they support A-4940 and S-4317. Jim Hutchinson Jr. said “A handshake and a promise is nice, but legislation is binding!”

Mark Dzindzio #207 – NJBBA President