Post AKX68gSW6fFVlFfAFk by gamehawk@weirder.earth
(DIR) More posts by gamehawk@weirder.earth
(DIR) Post #AKV3YsTlLmQoOK7mBE by A0bMJlR1vXmshMJTm4.pagrus@tears.intherain.club
2022-06-14T15:19:57Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
wtf is a beach tag
(DIR) Post #AKV3Yt6P27L8KACdPM by gamehawk@weirder.earth
2022-06-14T15:24:03Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@pagrus That's what I said when we moved here! It's (mostly) a Jersey thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach_tagWe mostly go in off season and/or to unguarded beaches so have not yet encountered a situation in which we need one so I am still not entirely up on how they work.
(DIR) Post #AKV3YtgCszyo7CxEDQ by A0bMJlR1vXmshMJTm4.pagrus@tears.intherain.club
2022-06-14T15:28:53Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@gamehawk The notion of distinguishing between free and commercial beaches is kind of freaking me out
(DIR) Post #AKV3Yu8ZBYfHXADsQ4 by gamehawk@weirder.earth
2022-06-14T15:34:57Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@pagrus Right? It is controversial. There's "we've always done it this way" vs. "public trust!"I don't know if California beaches are the same but the ones here are both rip-current-prone and also very much used by people who don't swim on a regular basis, so the lifeguards get a lot of work (and there are still a fair number of fatalities every season). And there's no way most of the tiny towns (who have almost no tax revenue outside of beach tags and parking) could afford lifeguards without.
(DIR) Post #AKV3YuYnc1eGqWUpJA by A0bMJlR1vXmshMJTm4.pagrus@tears.intherain.club
2022-06-14T15:40:21Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@gamehawk I don’t know how it works here, people die pretty frequently from swimming in the ocean but I don’t know if I have ever seen a lifeguard on a beach
(DIR) Post #AKV3Yv1rrwtuIg62cK by A0bMJlR1vXmshMJTm4.pagrus@tears.intherain.club
2022-06-14T15:41:33Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@gamehawk I mean the Pacific is pretty big an dangerous, if you choose to get into it that’s kind of on you
(DIR) Post #AKV3YvWM2bHrpEMO8W by gamehawk@weirder.earth
2022-06-14T17:55:46Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@pagrus I think part of it is that most Jersey beaches also involve boardwalks, so there's a great deal of alcohol within walking distance of a rip current. I mean, I'm sure a lot of Californians bring alcohol to the beach but the difference here is: there are a lot of businesses (and concomitant tax revenue) that rely on people coming to the beach *and spending money there* so you can't let that get too lethal.
(DIR) Post #AKV3Yvtkdc0CznJ4bY by CarlCravens@mastodon.xyz
2022-06-15T03:20:43Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@gamehawk @pagrus The thing that surprised me is I expected the beaches would be maintained by the state, like a state park. That these little municipalities maintain their own section of beach seems odd.
(DIR) Post #AKX68fvC6Yau5u4YJU by seachanged@mastodon.social
2022-06-15T05:14:38Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@gamehawk @pagrus California beaches belong to the state. All of them, since 1976, with additional state sponsorship of coastal access. The land from low tide to high tide is free to roam.There are no lifeguards, but there are cops and rangers and coast guard and law enforcement, of course, and beach access that runs through state parks is subject to closure in a way that public access rights of way are not.And law enforcement will persecute you on the beach if you have nowhere else to go.
(DIR) Post #AKX68gSW6fFVlFfAFk by gamehawk@weirder.earth
2022-06-15T12:32:53Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@seachanged @pagrus In theory that's a national thing, from high tide line. I'm not sure how it interacts with beach tags, legally speaking. Maybe you can walk down from an open beach as long as you stay in the intertidal area, I dunno.
(DIR) Post #AKX68gvENuDZCJ660e by gamehawk@weirder.earth
2022-06-15T14:03:30Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Okay can't stop wondering about beach fees vs. public trust, and it turns out: NJ has a statute making NJDEP responsible for making sure towns don't violate the public trust access, but also:https://www.monmouth.edu/uci/documents/2018/10/beach-access-report.pdf/"A town can charge beach fees to produce revenues necessary to offset legitimate beachfront related expenditures. However, if you are simply walking along the wet sand area below the mean high water line you should not be charged a fee."(operative word "should" there)
(DIR) Post #AKX68hQmUbSGm9rIBc by gamehawk@weirder.earth
2022-06-15T14:12:16Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
And of course there's other reasons beach access gets blocked: during shorebird nesting season you can't walk on North Brigantine Beach, which is part of a federal bird preserve.But I'm 99% sure if you walk past Jackson Ave (crossing from the free Atlantic City beach to the tagged Ventnor City one) the beach tag patrol will insist you pay $20 or go back to AC, even if you're staying intertidal.That would involve visiting the AC beach to find out though, and it's too peopley for me there.
(DIR) Post #AKX68hm3DWT7q7oHL6 by seachanged@mastodon.social
2022-06-15T16:45:44Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@gamehawk It reminds me of the walkers in Britain who in modern times began to aggressively exercise the rights-of-way across private land that existed traditionally, in order to keep them from being closed.They were of course persecuted and prosecuted by landowners, but prevailed, putting the right to ramble on firmer ground.If people do not exercise a right or dispensation it can be discontinued through desuetude, but the threat of summary punishment by cop for that exercise is strong.
(DIR) Post #AKX68iMv0RxXgT3inw by gamehawk@weirder.earth
2022-06-15T16:52:50Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@seachanged Exactly. Same principle in Kansas, where kayaking groups have been fighting to establish the right to use rivers - which you can do in theory, but in practice there are stretches where a river runs for tens or hundreds of miles through a single ranch and if you aren't allowed to get *out* of the river that kind of limits its potential for recreational use.
(DIR) Post #AKX68inVPbE70vUxFI by CarlCravens@mastodon.xyz
2022-06-16T02:59:00Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@gamehawk @seachanged Not to mention the smaller rivers where ranchers will run a barbed-wire fence across the river because it's sometimes shallow enough cows cross it. I remember having to maneuver a canoe under one of those in Boy Scouts.