The Newsmagazine of Long Beach Island and Southern Ocean County

By Anita Josephson | on August 17, 2022

Many modern environmentalists accuse the movie “Jaws” of triggering an assault on sharks that has severely reduced their numbers in many parts of the world. Inspired in part by the famous Jersey Shore attacks of 1916, the shark is portrayed as a heartless predator or “perfect killing machine” that finds its innocent victims minding their own business.

With this in mind, the last shark story in this series is a little different – the shark is the victim. We have to start at the beginning with something called pound fishing. It was first used by the Native Americans, then the Canadians, and in the mid-1800s it began to be used extensively along the beaches of New Jersey.

In 1914, the New Jersey Courier reported there were 128 pounds operating on the Jersey coast, employing 605 men and capturing 34 million pounds of fish, valued at $773,137. In 2016, Breanne McCarthy explained the operation for Jersey Living.

“Pound fishermen used a series of nets attached to wooden poles to trap their catch. The poles – some as long as 70 feet – were driven into the ocean floor about a half mile from the shore, creating a permanent structure in a shape resembling an arrow. When fish entered the open end of the pound structure, they were corralled by the nets and funneled into a netting bag, which could be raised to the surface. Once on the surface, the netting bag was loaded onto a skiff and pulled ashore by horses, and later, tractors and beach buggies. The fish were sorted, packed on ice and shipped by rail to the Fulton Fish Market in New York City or Dock Street Market in Philadelphia.”

It was more than just hard work. Dan Radel reported for the Asbury Park Press in June 2014.

“If it was a good day, they would make two or three trips to empty the pound net. ‘The seamanship was kind of outstanding because you came in with a boat load without any freeboard at all on the boat,’ said Kris Anderson, whose father owned Crest Fishery in Beach Haven Terrace, one of six pound fisheries that operated on Long Beach Island. Freeboard is the distance between the waterline and the gunwale in the skiffs used in the pound net fishery. The skiffs were typically 33-feet long and built of white cedar and oak. ‘You would lay there outside the bar and circle and circle. They always called that ‘pigging the slats,’ meaning you’d see seven big waves come in and you waited to get right behind them before the next big wave came in. You’d ride that last sea right up onto the beach,’ Anderson said.”

Carol Freas described what took place after the skiff had reached the beach in a 2021 Echoes of LBI article.

“On shore, Clydesdale horses hitched to block and tackle pulled the boat ashore over heavy wood rollers beyond the high tide line. Next the fish were sorted, repacked with layers of ice in wood boxes and 200-pound barrels and sent by train to markets in Philadelphia and New York. Jovial workers would toss a fish to a kid on the beach who happily ran home with it for dinner. Depending on the season, the principal catch was whiting, mackerel, shad, flounder, weakfish, blue fish, kingfish, and large butterfish. The squid, moss bunker, and small butterfish were frozen and sold locally for bait, nothing went to waste. A good day could bring in two boat loads.”

“Fishermen worked the pounds from late March to November with Sundays off. They lived in a bunkhouse near the beach and were paid $60 a month with room and board which included high calorie, hearty meals. The cook rattled pots and pans at 4:30 am, serving eggs, potatoes, meat, and bread with strong coffee. A huge dinner of fish, piles of chops, bread, and seasoned vegetables awaited at mid-day. There would be cold food for sandwiches left for the evening meal.”

According to Freas, once ashore, “the fishermen’s chores continued in the afternoon: resetting poles damaged by storms; cleaning and mending nets clogged with seaweed or torn by sharks; tarring baskets and new nets spread on the dune grass to dry. In the off hours, the men played as hard as they worked. They would meet their wives and locals to dance a shodish at Kubel’s or Hans’ Bar with a ten-cent Schmidt’s beer in hand. Or sing their traditional drinking song over a lager at the Hudson House, the Acme Bar or another favorite local watering hole.”

Pound fishing was a big part of the non-tourist economy.  The New Jersey Courier reported on April 17, 1914, “New Jersey coast pound fishermen are busy these April days. The first driving of the pound poles was begun last week. Between Sandy Hook and Point Pleasant there will be a score or more of pounds. Between Point Pleasant and the southern end of the state there are one hundred more pounds, or all told, 125, which will cost the pound men to set between $2,200 $2,500 each.”

It was a large investment not only in money, but in labor as well. The Courier continued, “It takes a forest of poles to supply the pound fishermen annually, and frequently a fall storm carries them away and they are compelled often to not only drive poles but to buy new nets. The poles are put in by pump pressure. Until a few years ago they were sunk by hand, and it was no small job to get a pound ready for fishing. Nearly all the pound men will have to put in new poles, for the winter storms have carried nearly all of them away that were left after the fishing season closed last season.”

While storms were beyond the control of fishermen there, was another threat to the pounds: sharks. A large shark caught in the nets could play havoc, even destroying the net and allowing a day’s catch to escape. The sight of a fin inside the net was a call to action.

In July 1930 when the crew of the Beach Haven Crest boat saw a shark fin, a battle was begun that would grace the pages of newspapers from Tuckerton to Honolulu. It was the epic battle of man versus shark, only in this story, man was the attacker.

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