Rip Tide Bait & Tackle
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
MARGATE – People in Margate expressed shock at the news that Robin Scott, the firey woman who ran a long-established marine business on Amherst Avenue, passed away on Saturday. She was ill for a time, but being a private person, many people did not know of her illness.
“I was shocked,” Mayor Michael Becker said Monday morning. “I didn’t even know she was sick.”
Becker called her “a good friend of Margate, a great resident, a great mother” and extremely knowledgeable about the bay.
“No one knew more about the bay than she did,” he said. “She will be sadly missed.”
Margate Business Association President Ed Berger said he was shocked to hear that she died.
“It’s a sad day,” he said. “She had an irreplaceable spirit.”
Scott was one of the most active protectors of the backbay, where children, teens and adults learned how to kayak, operate a boat and most importantly, fish in the waters behind Ray Scott’s Dock.
“She was always a steward of the environment and passionate about keeping the bay clean,” Berger said. “She had one speed – full speed ahead.”
The Ray Scott’s Dock family.
Scott left her fingerprint on everything she touched, Berger said, and was a big supporter of the MBA and its annual Funfest By The Bay event held along the bayfront to cap the summer season.
She raised baby terrapins for a year before releasing them into the bay waters. She was active in the Marine Fisheries Council often testifying to protect summer flounder fishing as part of the tourism industry.
She advocated for dredging the backbay and was “a true supporter” of the marine industry, Margate Commissioner John Amodeo said.
“Ray Scott’s Dock is an iconic and cherished business in Margate,” Amodeo said. “Practically every kid who grew up here either worked there, hung out there or learned to fish there.”
Amodeo said she advocated for a bill he sponsored when he was in the Legislature with then-Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew that allowed families to register online for the Saltwater Fishing Registry. The registry made it affordable for families to fish without having to pay individual licensing fees, Amodeo said.
“She was a great asset to the community,” he said.
Robin Scott is interviewed for a segment on TV40.
Sustainable Margate Chairman Steve Jasiecki said Scott was a friend of the green team who always provided them with access to the bay from her dock.
“She provided us with the space to launch kayaks when we were going out for bay cleanups,” he said. “She was very generous to us when we went out to erect an osprey nest or provide residents with a tour of the wetlands.”
Robin Scott is survived by her adult children Rachel and Ray. Funeral services are pending.
Children flocked to Ray Scott’s Dock to learn about bay marine life.
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