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Skyway Anglers Won't Get Break

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By FRANK SARGEANT

Tribune correspondent

Published: September 5, 2008

Though the east spans of the Skyway fishing piers were carrying 20,000-pound motorhomes just a few weeks ago, the Florida Department of Transportation says the 50-year-old structures are so unsafe they cannot bear even the weight of a few dozen anglers on foot - the east side of the popular structures will remain closed permanently, according to FDOT spokesperson Kris Carson.

"It is a public safety issue, and on that sort of issue there's no compromise," Carson told the Tribune on Thursday.

Jamie Foster, who manages the north pier, said the FDOT "ambushed" the Foster family, which has run the piers as a family business for the past 13 years.

"There was no warning at all - one morning they just showed up and gave us the news, and they already had the bulldozers waiting to start moving in the barricades," Foster said.

She said her family had invested millions during the past decade in storm-proof restrooms, lighting and tackle shops on the structures, and now there has been a severe reduction in business because of news of the shutdown.

"We have been off as much as 70 percent since the closure, plus with the bad weather from the storms," Foster said. "It shouldn't be slower, because the fishing is really good right now, but people are seeing the newspaper headlines and they think the whole operation is closed, so they're just not coming out."

Foster said the company repeatedly has tried to negotiate some sort of foot access to the east span, but the FDOT has refused to discuss a change in policy.

Herb Newlands of Tampa, who said he visits the piers with his granddaughter, said the DOT is taking away access for those without boats and creating a negative impact on a great family gathering spot.

Other anglers have pointed out that not being able to use both spans will create traffic problems, since there will now be two-way traffic on the west span, and place anglers much closer to moving vehicles. Large trucks and RV's no longer will be allowed on the piers because of the limited space. However, according to Carson, a parking area for these vehicles is being planned for the causeways, the land portion of the Skyway crossing.

Foster said the east span is now shut off by concrete barriers and a chain-link fence.

"We are not even allowed emergency access to go over there and rescue a pelican that gets tangled in fishing line," Foster said. "If it's a safety issue, OK, but there were hundreds of vehicles on that span every day a few weeks ago, and now they're saying one person going over there to help out a bird is in danger."

Closing the east side will be somewhat of a logistical problem for expert pier anglers, Foster said. Many anglers prefer to fish the downtide side of the bridge, because the current helps them keep their lines away from the bridge. While anglers will be able to fish from both sides of the west span, they no longer will have an open spread of water from the east rail to drift out live baits for mackerel, kings or tarpon.

The only fishermen likely to be happy with the closure are boaters who regularly catch bait under the span. In the past, particularly in winter when baitfish are scarce on the grass flats, there has often been conflict between boating cast-netters under the pier and boatless anglers fishing from above. The closure should end that issue, at least on the bay side of the spans.

The west spans appear to be safe for the time being. The east spans were built in 1954, the west in 1971. FDOT says the projected life span is 50 years on the west span, which gives anglers perhaps a dozen years before this portion of the world's longest fishing piers is in danger.

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