# New Long Branch Pier coming.



## cfishigotu (Aug 27, 2003)

Pallone secures funds for new Long Branch pier

Deal Lake flume extension also gets money
Published in the Asbury Park Press 08/5/05
BY JOHN GEISER
CORRESPONDENT

(FILE PHOTO)
The Long Branch fishing pier, shown here in a 1962 photo, was one of the most popular piers at the Shore. 

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Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., has accomplished two things in the last few days that will benefit anglers.

The congressman delivered on his promise to persuade the state Department of Environmental Protection to build an extension on the Deal Lake flume in Asbury Park that should protect and enhance the river herring spawning run in the spring, and he secured the first funding to rebuild the Long Branch Fishing Pier.

The fishing pier was at one time the most popular platform from which to fish in the Shore area. The whiting and ling fishing in the cold months and fluke, bluefish and weakfish action in the summer months was good off the pier.

Pier fishing is popular with anglers who cannot fish from boats, and the length of the Long Branch platform in years gone by was enough to put anglers on the end into some good shallow-water fishing.

Pallone said he secured $3.34 million in federal funds for the design and construction of the new recreational fishing pier at the site of the old pier in Long Branch.

He said he hopes that the federal funds will help the city attract additional money from state and other sources to move forward on the project.

The funds were included in the Transportation Equity Act conference report, a $286.4 billion, multiyear transportation reauthorization bill that the House of Representatives approved July 29. The conference report reconciled separate transportation bills passed earlier by both the House and Senate.

Pallone said he remembers when the Long Branch Fishing Pier was the pride of Long Branch.

"I hope the new pier will accomplish the same purpose in the near future," he said. "The fishing pier was always the best place to fish at the Jersey Shore, and is the most important part of this project, as far as I am concerned."

The city plans to turn the site into a regional tourist hub that includes the fishing pier, ferry terminal, food and entertainment services, events and exhibitions and an ecology museum.

Carl Hartmann


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