Hudson River Fishermen's Association - (877) 473-2674

The HRFA is a group of recreational fishermen who make active use of the N.Y. Bight and are concerned with the state of this fishery, www.hrfanj.org.

In 1966 a writer for Sports Illustrated, Robert Boyle, got together with a few fishermen in Garrison New York and decided they had had enough of the industrial abuse of the Hudson River. The pollutants of the industrial revolution had brought the majestic Hudson River to her knees. The small group of men formed an association which would use the laws of the land to bring the Hudson River back to life. They called themselves the Hudson River Fishermen's Association.
The laws had been on the books against polluting the waters of this country for years, but just not enforced. Bob Boyle forced the government to enforce those laws.
Other chapters of the HRFA started to spring up. There was a Yonkers chapter, a Manhattan chapter and in the fall of 1969, a New Jersey Chapter. The New Jersey chapter was started by a young man named Pete Barrett who with a couple of friends, Vic Alesio, Don Eckert and Larry Danziger, started meeting in Doc Heldens office in Hackensack. They had about eight members. The earliest records of the NJ HRFA is an early copy of their newsletter dated 1971. They talked about the different fishing seasons and a problem with the town of Edgewater dumping sewage into the River. Today is not so different. We still talk about the fishing seasons and the pollution of the river still by the town of Edgewater (and others).

http://www.hrfanj.org/

Tags: Fishing,Environmental Conservation