LBI party boat Carolyn Ann III sold by Barnegat Light family
Dan Radel
For the first time since the early 1970s, there is no Carolyn Ann III party boat at the 18th Street dock in Barnegat Light.
The Hammarstrom family, faced with dwindling business and feeling strangled by fishery regulations, sold the boat they built by hand. On Thursday the new owners brought the boat down to Cape May where it'll become part of the Starlight fleet.
"I'm sad to see her go. We had a good trade but we're getting older, the costs plus the regulations are really getting to be too much. The seasons are too short," said Capt. William Hammarstrom Jr., 68.
It's a somber reminder of the times.
The sale of the Carolyn Ann III leaves two party boats on all of Long Beach Island, one each in the towns of Barnegat Light and Beach Haven. The island once boasted at least 13 party boats that took people on daily fishing excursions for the cost of a fare.
Hammarstrom, or Will, as most know him, and his sister Gina Lawrenson, 62, built the 83-foot Carolyn Ann III alongside their late father William Hammarstrom Sr. over two years from 1972-1973.
They drew the plans on the kitchen table and built the hull — made of mahogany wood imported from South America — on their grandmother's farm in Lacey, using a concrete chicken coop for shelter.
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"Will planked the boat. I was smaller so my job was to go around and putty the screw holes," said Lawrenson, who was in elementary school at the time.
The Hammarstroms then made a bit of a scene transporting the boat down Route 9 to Akroyd's Anchorage when they backed up traffic trying to clear utility lines. The boat's superstructure — the cabin and pilothouse — was added at the boatyard.
"Our first year with the boat was really good. The cod, whiting and mackerel fishing were unbelievable in the early '70s. I don't think it will ever come back to the way it was," Hammarstrom said.
The 1970s was still the heyday of the party boat industry, not just on Long Beach Island, but on the entire coast. Many long-time fishing families like the Hammarstroms invested in bigger boats to carry the crowds.
"My favorite time of the year was mackerel fishing. The hooks would be flying all over the place. We'd fill barrels with fish and sell them to the local markets. We all worked, even my grandma came down and helped," said Lawrenson.
However, even then, great changes to the fisheries were on the horizon. While foreign factory ships depleted fish stocks in local waters, the United States worked on a new fishery law, which would be adopted in 1976, called the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
The act, which continues to be reauthorized to this day, created new regional fisheries managers to regulate and conserve U.S. fisheries. At the same time, an international debate led to the creation of exclusive economic zones in 1982 that gave countries sovereignty over waters extending 200 miles from their coastline.
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In the decades after the act was signed into law, the regional fishery managers have placed harvest quotas on most commercially viable stocks. The reasons were twofold: to keep the stocks from crashing while still using them to support local fishermen.
Take summer flounder, or fluke, for example, which carry the party boat business during the summer tourist season. In 1976 there were no limits on the fishery. Today, recreational anglers can keep three per day, but the fish has to be 18 inches in length. The season has also been shortened.
"The regulations make it tough because people get tired of throwing everything back. The seasons hurt because the fish are here 3 or 4 weeks before we're allowed to fish for them," Lawrenson said.
People's fishing habits have also taken a bite out of the business. Lawrenson said people aren't bringing their kids out fishing anymore. That, and more people have their own boats equipped with GPS to allow them to find the fishing grounds.
It's all contributed to a slow burn off of the party boat fleet and families like the Hammarstroms deciding to hang it up after nearly seven decades.
"It was a good living. I'm going to miss the people the most. Three generations of families fished with us," Hammarstrom said.
When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com.