Fishing suspended through season at Naples Pier
Joseph Cranney
The Naples Pier won't be open for fishing this tourist season.
Naples officials on Tuesday suspended fishing at the historic structure while crews work to repair damages caused by Hurricane Irma. Fishing likely won't be allowed until at least August, when the repairs are expected to be complete.
The city blocked off prized casting spots at the far end of the Pier, with fish-cleaning stations and carcass disposal, after Irma struck in September. Since then, anglers crowded toward the Pier's shallow end have left fish guts on the Pier deck and stuck hooks into Pier benches, said Dana Souza, Naples community services director.
"There's fish carcasses. There's blood," Souza said. "It's just everywhere on the Pier."
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Some anglers have put fish guts and blood into the public drinking fountain near the Pier's concession stand. David Fralick, a Naples spokesman, called it a public safety issue.
"If you go to drink some water and there’s fish guts in there, that becomes a health problem," Fralick said.
Anglers casting their hooks off the Pier near the shore also created a safety hazard for the sightseers who typically gather there, Souza said.
Irma's Category 3 winds ripped at the wooden beams supporting the Pier's deeper end and blasted the far west railing into the Gulf. The section of the Pier past the concession stand remains closed.
Fralick said Naples police will enforce the fishing prohibition 24/7, including overnight, when many anglers like to fish.
Souza said erecting temporary fish-cleaning stations on the open end of the Pier is impossible without a water hookup.
"It’s just one of those unfortunate circumstances," he said. "This is not something that we sought to do."
