Virginia Beach residents see no appeal in fishing nets

VIRGINIA BEACH

As the men - mostly white-haired and wrinkled by the sun and time - pulled a ribbon of black netting closer to the shore, a mob of greedy seagulls surrounded them and squawked impatiently. Nearby, a clutch of homeowners looked on in anger.

Ignoring both, the men waded a few feet into the water and with large baskets scooped up the slippery croaker and spot corralled by the netting. Two-by-two, they carried their catch back to shore. The fish thrashed in the baskets and sprayed the men with scales. The crew dumped the fish into cartons, then turned back and repeated the process.

"This was the way it was done in Bible times," said Butch Parkerson, a burly man flecked with white hair and even whiter scales. Parkerson used to fish like this in Norfolk's Ocean View when he was younger, and he returned to haul seine fishing along Virginia Beach's bayfront three years ago with his company, BB&K Fisheries Inc.

Haul seine fishing, done mainly from the shore with long nets, was practiced by the early colonists on this same stretch of the Chesapeake Bay. But until this year, it gained little notice.

Then a few weeks ago, BB&K set up operations west of the Lynnhaven Fishing Pier, closer to more congested neighborhoods. The ancient fishing technique suddenly clashed with modern sensibilities about bayfront living.

Many residents who live in the gated condominiums that tower behind the dunes said they were shocked when they saw the black netting strewn across the shoreline. Then came the oversize pickups rolling down the beach before daybreak and throughout the day, taking the fish to a nearby packing facility, where they are sorted, washed and then shipped out.

"I don't think commercial fishing should be allowed in a residential area," said Susan Hahne, a Lesner Pointe East resident, who watched while walking her two Yorkshire terriers on the beach. "I don't know where's the happy medium. This is not something I expected when I moved to Chesapeake Beach."

Hahne and other condo owners said they have been awakened in the middle of the night by the trucks and the watermen using flashlights and yelling. The nets, the sharp odor of decaying fish and the seagulls that have congregated close to shore have also kept them out of the water during the last days of the summer, residents said.

"It's a tranquil beach," said Robert Walsh, who lives in a condo overlooking the bay. Walsh said the commercial fishermen should be able to earn a living, but he questioned the location.

Many of the residents have called local and state agencies to complain.

The fishing is legal, said John Bull, a spokesman for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, which regulates the industry.

"They were haul seine fishing long before anybody owned waterfront property," Bull said.

First Landing State Park, farther east along the bayfront, has allowed haul seine fishing for years. Statewide, the VMRC issued 61 permits for haul seine fishing this year - three, one more than the previous year, for the Virginia Beach area, Bull said.

Most of the fishing takes place during the fall.

Still, there aren't many operators who fish by this method, Bull said, because it requires plenty of workers, beach access for trucks and an unobstructed sea bottom.

One or two operators have worked the Chesapeake Bay area for years, but they have usually stayed east of the pier, where single-family homes dominate, and residents haven't really noticed, said Clay Bernick, who heads the Beach's environmental efforts.

While the city's code bans driving on the beach, it does make an exception for commercial fishermen with the proper permits. But the watermen must stay along the wet-sand portion of the shore and within the public's beach access, City Attorney Mark Stiles said.

Stiles said Beach officials are looking into the situation.

"If it's extending to areas it shouldn't, we'll take care of it," he said.

Parkerson said the watermen are trying to address some of the residents' concerns during the few weeks they're fishing the bay.

They've cleaned their nets of dead fish. And earlier this week, they offered any beach passers-by some of the 30,000 pounds of spot and croaker they'd caught that day.

"We want to cooperate as much as we can," Parkerson said.

Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com