Illegal Fishermen Disturbing Rye's Waterfront Property Owners

They cover the Rye waterfront, all 13 miles of it, but Rye's Police Department Marine Unit has added a sweeping new ticketing land and sea twist that might well be called a Catch Fish 22.

The cops have stepped up ticketing of allegedly illegal out-of-area fishermen for violations ranging from fishing without a license to trespassing on the Rye waterfront.

In effect, the cops are saying: Go fish. Just not here.

And what has happened in the past is that fishermen have been unofficially allowed to fish from the seawalls of exclusive Rye waterfront properties because owners turned a mostly blind eye to what was going on.

In days gone by, for example, there were sporadic calls to the police, who came to the properties of the various callers and chased the trespassing fishermen, letting them go with a warning.

But no more.

Various Rye waterfront property owners have decided they want the rules enforced, some of them, who declined that their names be used, told Patch.

The current rules say it is okay for fishermen to fish off the rocks extending away from the various Rye waterfront properties, but not from the seawalls of those properties, according to Rye Police Commissioner William Connors.

Connors told Patch Monday that the Marine Unit has been pretty active in recent years, especially about the environmental issues concerning undersized fish.

He said a new state statute has mandated that fishermen have a license to fish in saltwater, whereas the previous statute only covered freshwater. Connors said police have recently issued summonses on the waterfront for saltwater fishing.

However, according to the public trust doctrine, people have the right of access to the water and are allowed to fish in certain areas, Connors said.

"If they can access the waterfront and the rocks, then legally they can do that," he said.

However, for some fishermen, getting to the rocks usually involves imposing on the waterfront properties of people who live in communities such as the Water's Edge Condominium complex. 

At high tide, for example, when fishing is best, the only way to get to those rocks is to walk across the lawns of various seaside estates, climb across the seawalls of the waterfront properties or simply fish from the seawalls, all of which adds up to trespassing.

And that "No Trespassing, Private Property" rule –along with several others–is being strictly enforced this season.

On one recent evening, for example, I and Water's Edge residents Gene Musso and Michael Buccieri observed the Marine Unit's Julio Rossi leading a ticketing blitz across Water's Edge, a complex located off Forest Avenue where this Patch writer resides.

Rossi and one of his Marine Unit colleagues walked across the Water's Edge seawall and began ticketing the fishermen perched there.

Those fishermen were ticketed for, among other things, fishing without a license, and warned about trespassing and catching undersized fish and not throwing them back into the water.

The fishermen came from as far away as Duchess and Putnam Counties and as near as Port Chester and the Bronx. And they stared uncomprehendingly at the tickets, a $40 fine, for example, for fishing without a license.

"I've got a license, it's in my car," one said.

"OK, " said Rossi. "Get it, and no ticket, no fine."

He returned shortly thereafter, and it turned out he did have a license. The others didn't and were ticketed. Rossi patiently explained to the fishermen that the past was the past, and things were different now, and illegal fishermen would be ticketed.

He also had one fisherman throw several small-sized fish back into the water, explaining that the fisherman could have been ticketed for catching each one of those undersized fish, an amount that could have added up to a fine of $600.

Though out-of area fisherman pose a problem ecologically to fisheries, some Water's Edge residents said the greater concern is the security problem of having non-residents fishing on the property.

"Why have an around-the-clock guard at the security gate entering the property when the waterfront is unguarded and fishermen using the seawall could have easy access," Buccieri said.

In the past, there seems to have been some kind of unofficial out-of-area fishing enthusiasts grapevine that, in effect, said it was okay to fish off the Rye waterfront seawalls because the fishing rules weren't enforced no matter what the signs said about "No Trespassing, Private Property," "No Climbing on the Rocks," according to several residents.

Recently, a fisherman set up picnic umbrellas on the seawall right off the complex's swimming pool. Cigar smoke swirled up from the seawall. Boom boxes blared. Garbage was scattered. Rye Police were called and came to the scene. The fishermen were let go with a warning.

But now the ticketing process is in effect because several waterfront property owners have complained to the police about alleged transgressions ranging from someone sitting around fishing in their underwear late at night to security breaches that allow easy access to properties from the waterfront.

Connors said in the past police have received complaints about fishermen crossing the seawall and throwing garbage and fish heads into the Water's Edge pool.

He said the department received a letter on June 15 from Water's Edge Board President Vito Larusso indicating that the property wants trespassers prosecuted.

Larusso, an ex-fisherman, standing in his living room by a mounted marlin caught by his son off the Florida coast, told Patch last week that Water's Edge property owners have grown weary of trespassers, so he appreciates the police's efforts to enforce the rules.

"As someone who did a lot of fishing in my time, I certainly understand the lure of fishing," he said. "But fishing off the rocks along the Rye shoreline is okay, but not off the seawalls of private property. That's why we're doing something about it."

The end result is that the uniformed police officers of the Rye Marine Unit –Rossi, Brian Caldwell, Larry Miano, Ron Oliver and Charlie Landau – now have a new land beat that includes regular ticketing sweeps targeting illegal fisherman on the Rye waterfront. That "beat" goes along with their regular seaborne duties of environmental and ecological protection as well as coming to the rescue of the occasional boat that runs into trouble.

The Police Marine Unit boats, a catamaran and a donated cabin cruiser, are regularly docked at the Milton Harbor Marina. From there the Rye Police Marine Unit covers the Rye waterfront in more ways than one.