Prodigious fisherman looks out for Barnegat Bay

TOMS RIVER, N.J. - In a lifetime spent on the water, "Big Al" Wutkowski has seen the many ways humans have been trashing Barnegat Bay - and the animals that call it home.

He's seen boaters pump oily bilge waste into the water, toss trash overboard, and blow through no-wake zones at full speed. As a wildlife rehabilitator rescuing injured waterfowl, he's seen operators of personal watercraft blast through marshy areas, chasing geese and swans with sticks, and he's stumbled across abandoned crab traps that kill their prey.

Wutkowski is a locally famous striped bass fisherman, with a long history of deep-sea trophy fish to boot; the money he got from a prize tuna paid for his wife's car.

Now 71, and more than 20 years removed from his retirement as president of a northern New Jersey construction company, Wutkowski is still out on the water, gently urging anyone he sees breaking the rules or acting irresponsibly to do what's right. Four years ago, he joined with the American Littoral Society environmental group as its first Barnegat Bay Guardian, volunteering his time to teach or remind boaters of the rules designed to protect the bay - and the people that use it.

"This bay is in tough shape from the pollution and all the oil from all these boats," he said. "We just have too many people and too many boats on this bay, and it's been like this for years."

Hoping to ensure that future generations can enjoy the bay as he has, Wutkowski cruises its shallow waters looking for violators, sidles up to them and smothers them in kindness while pointing out what they should be doing differently. One recent day, he saw a man operating a personal watercraft too close to a marshy shoreline (they have to stay at least 100 feet offshore) and drifted up to him.

"Hi! How are you today?" Wutkowski asked. "Beautiful day to be out here. I just wanted to remind you that regulations say you should be at least 100 feet from the shoreline; I don't want to see anyone get a ticket, least of all a guy out with his kids."

"OK, a little farther offshore?" the man replied. "I didn't know. OK, no problem."

Almost all his interactions with boaters go this way.

"It's almost always: 'Oh, yes, sir. No, sir. Thank you, sir,' " Wutkowski said. "A lot of them just truly don't know."

In more than four years, Wutkowski said he had only one person give him a hard time.

"He was like, 'Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do?' " Wutkowski recalled. The boater was in a slow-speed zone and sped off - right into the path of a police boat.

Sgt. Rodney Goodson of the state police marine division that patrols Barnegat Bay welcomes Wutkowski's assistance.

"It promotes safety, and we're all for that," he said.

Goodson said he can't recall anyone ever complaining about Wutkowski's volunteer patrols.

For his part, Wutkowski said the most detailed advice he's ever gotten from state or local police on the water was, "Just don't crash into anyone, and we'll be fine."

The American Littoral Society is looking for others to conduct similar volunteer patrols.

"We know that boaters are passionate people that love the bay, and we're looking forward to reaching more individuals like Al to help us educate people and protect the bay," said Helen Henderson, an official with the group. "They can make a tremendous difference in protecting the bay by being its eyes and ears on the water."