S.O.N.S. Receive Another Grant from the Friends of Fish Foundation

For the fifth year in a row the Friends of Fish Foundation has bestowed a generous and substantial gift to the S.O.N.S. of Lake Erie. The Friends of Fish Foundation is headquartered in Philadelphia. The foundation’s goals parallel those of the S.O.N.S. that is, to enhance fishing and the fishery. The 2009 grant will be applied to our 2010 projects. 

The "S.O.N.S. PROPOSE NEW FISHING PIER" story below demonstrates how these grants from the Friends of Fish Foundation are being put to good use. This $334,500.00 project is well on its way towards reality. 

In addition to our on going projects such as education, public access, habitat, and our hatchery we have used the grant money to support the 3-CU trout club in the past. We will be able to continue and expand our goals thanks to this generous grant. 

One neat project that is being planned is another web cam. Fairview Township has requested that we help fund a web cam for Trout Run and we are still working with the PFBC to do another at Walnut Creek. We feel that these cameras will help promote our fishery by showing stream conditions as well has providing an aid to boaters making it possible for them to check lake condition before leaving there homes with boats and trailers. We anticipate using some of this grant money towards these two cameras.

Thanks again Friends of Fish Foundation.

S.O.N.S. Receive Award for Work With Handicapped

The S.O.N.S. of Lake Erie were presented with the “Advocates for Independent Living Award” at the October 21, 2009 Annual Meeting of Erie Independence House Inc. Ms. Cathy Elizabeth Miller, President of the Erie Independence House presented the award to the S.O.N.S. in recognition of several past projects that have provided access and hands on fishing opportunities for the handicapped. Some of these projects include the construction of a bridge and ramp on the South pier and a handicapped ramp on the North pier. The S.O.N.S. also contributed funds toward the construction of the floating fishing platform on Presque Isle’s Waterworks pond.

L to R Ms. Cathy Elizabeth Miller, Pres. Jerry Srypzak, Director Bob Zawadzki
Director Ron Lubak and VP Ed Kissell

S.O.N.S. PURCHASE RADAR UNITS FOR PFBC BOATS

Two of the PFBC’s patrol boats are sporting new radar units thanks to the S.O.N.S. of Lake Erie.
Last year some Lake Erie fishermen lost their lives because of the length of time it took to locate them and their capsized boat. We felt that had more boats with radar units participated in the search the outcome may have been different.

On request of our regional WCO’s it was decided to upgrade two of the PFBC’s patrol boats with new state of the art Raymarine radar-gps units. The S.O.N.S. portion of the price tag was $5,589.00.  Technicians at Anchor Marine did the installation of the units.

S.O.N.S. PROPOSE NEW FISHING PIER

On Friday August 7^th Ed Kissell, Jim Gwinn and I met with representatives from the EWPPA, CZM, PFBC, DEP, DCNR, Erie County Planning and State Representative Harkins. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the construction of a fishing pier on the North face of Liberty Pier.

A fishing pier on the Liberty Pier was mandated by a deed restriction that was placed on the property in 1987 when the original developer of the Cascade Docks discovered that the property they had purchased had encroached into Commonwealth waters and they needed to buy the land from the state. Ed Kissell, who was our president at the time, persuaded our state legislators to add some deed restrictions to the transfer. One was that a fishing pier be constructed and a park be provided on the Liberty pier.

The development fell into financial disruption and the Erie Western Pennsylvania Port Authority acquired the property. They constructed the popular Liberty Park but as of yet not the fishing pier.

Since 2007 we have been negotiating with the EWPPA to go forward with the construction of the pier. In December of 2008 we paid $3300 for a preliminary engineering study. Our next step was to present our plan to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission on the hopes of securing some Lake Erie Stamp monies for the project. The PFBC approved a grant of approx. $18,000.00 for the engineering phase of the project. We must match the grant with another $18,000.00.

Thanks to the generosity of the Friends of Fish Foundation and Mr. Pete Kaschak who have donated over $30,000.00 to our club, we are capable of paying our share of the $38,000.00 for the first phase of the project. The total estimated cost of the fishing pier is $334,500.00.

Jim Gwinn, a retired professional engineer and one of our members is helping us with the design details of the pier.

At our Friday August 7^th meeting with representatives of the State agencies we received a commitment for the funding of the project by the PFBC, the DCNR and CZM. The funds will be come available in late 2010 with construction to be completed in 2011. The PFBC portion will come from the Lake Erie Stamp monies.