It’s disappointing to hear about anglers performing actions that give other fishermen a bad name. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s been happening at Sebastian Inlet pier with angry anglers who have been going insane if anyone encroaches on their space.
These anglers have threatened, fought and thrown fishing weights and gear at people at one another and boaters, ask because they didn’t want anyone to fish where they were fishing. It doesn’t stop there either. Some anglers have even gone as far as smearing feces in order to draw a proverbial line in the sand – except it’s a line, on a dock, made out of crap.
“We’ve had reports of people defecating and spreading it on the rail to mark their territory so nobody will fish next to them,” said Martin Smithson, administrator for the Sebastian Inlet District. “There have been several citations for public urination.”
With over 80,000 people fishing the jetty every year, people have started acting overly antagonistic to fight off the crowds.
“We are on a mission to get it resolved, because it’s too great of a spot to let it go,” Smithson says.
“There is no doubt about it’s an escalating problem that we’ve seen over the last two years. It’s the sheer number of people and a deteriorating respect for the environment,” he continues.
It’s pretty crazy that people are willing to fight for something they supposedly love so much by ruining for everyone else by not respecting one another and defacing the property and disrespecting the law.
The FWC isn’t able to constantly monitor the area and the cameras that are setup are only so effective, but if this trending behavior doesn’t stop, people will be arrested.
