Posted on 06/12/2008 2:54:03 AM PDT by ninonitti
Millions of anglers would need license; US seeks better data on what is reeled in | The only thing anyone's ever needed to sportfish off New England's coast is a rod, reel, and good luck.
Now, the more than 2.5 million people who fish for fun here will probably need a license.
The federal agency that manages fishing announced yesterday that it intends to require most saltwater anglers to register before fishing begins in 2009 and plans to start charging for the privilege by 2011.
Fishery officials have grown increasingly concerned about how many fish the nation's recreational fishermen reel in from the ocean each year.
"This will lead to better stock assessments and more effective regulations to rebuild and manage these valuable fish," said Jim Balsiger, acting assistant administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service.
The rule will mean most fishermen - whether fishing from a dock, beach, or a boat - will have to have a permit. State waters within 3 miles of shore aren't normally covered by federal rules. But the new regulation would apply to fishermen who might catch any species that travels between fresh and saltwater, such as striped bass, one of the most popular New England sportfish.
Although licensing fees will probably not be more than $25 a year, Northeast fishermen say they shouldn't have to pay for the pleasure of pursuing a beloved, centuries-old pastime. So deep-seated is the belief that recreational fishing in the ocean should be free, it's partly why attempts by Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, and Connecticut to require saltwater sportfishing licensing in recent years have failed.
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(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Zero chance. It's just that there's something that the government hasn't taxed and licensed yet, and that is blasphemy to every bureaucrat and politician worth the hot air, arrogance, stupidity, and ignorance that they're made of.
Enforcement costs alone will eat any additional tax revenue.
Another freedom lost.
Meanwhile long liners and netters kill anything they come in contact with. BUT ya need to go after sport fishing enthusiasts?
“I’d be surprised if there were any chance that this tax would actually improve fishing.”
When did a tax ever improve anything?
It has nothing to do about protecting any fish and everything to do with getting more revenue and REMOVING A LITTLE MORE FREEDOM from the people.
If people don’t understand this, then we are already too far gone.
North Carolina instituted one this past January. Maryland has one, too. Maryland has a reciprocity agreement with Virginia where your VA license is good in MD, and vice versa.
NC doesn't have that with VA, so if you're fishing south of Virginia Beach (as I often do) you have to be really careful that you don't cross state lines, as the NC Dept. of Marine whatevers is on the prowl. NC nonresident fees are outrageous as well.
VA also has a license (for $38.50) that covers everyone who fishes from your boat.
Just another expense to live with.
“”This will lead to better stock assessments and more effective regulations to rebuild and manage these valuable fish,” said Jim Balsiger,”
Do they think they are going to stock the oceans?
We’re in Florida. You need a license to saltwater fish, plus a special stamp for certain species like snook (wish we had a one time charge to cover everyone in the boat.) The way it stands, we have to inform those we take out (unless they’re under 16) that they need to go online and buy a fishing license (luckily you can do it online and print out a temporary license.) Enforcement of licenses, boat requirements (life jackets, other equipment, etc.) and fish size (this is a hard one because every species has it’s own size and bag limit) are a pain and marine patrol will stop and ask on occasion, but IMO it’s worth the hassle because we have lots of fish in the freezer. :)
Good thing the Republicans are in charge of the Executive Branch!
I’ve got no beef with the Florida Fishing License either. It’s a moderate enough fee, but adding another Federal license on top of it is just a revenue raiser. I do have a Federal license for Highly Migratory Species that are caught pretty well offshore here in the Florida Keys, it covers Tunas, Swordfish and the like.
I used to have commercial fishing licenses. Florida Saltwater Products license, Federal Gulf & Atlantic Snapper and Grouper licenses, lobster and stone crab licenses. I used to easily cover the costs of fishing trips by selling fish. As time went on, the paperwork involved with keeping up the licenses became overwhelming. The federal licenses required a logbook to be filled out for each fishing trip, noting how many and what species were caught. That was not too bad, but as it evolved they then wanted to know what time of day (or night) the particular fish were caught, they wanted each fish weighed individually, both whole and after gutting.
When they started requiring that the logbook be filled out with the weight of the guts taken from the fish............that’s when i gave up and let the licenses lapse. That’s 15 years ago or so. In hindsight, I wish i had kept the licenses up, because it’s now a limited entry fishery and existing licenses can fetch a pretty good $, if you wish to see yours.
True in Texas, a fishing license and then a Saltwater Stamp ($15) for fishing inshore or offshore, and if you hunt migratory birds, ducks and geese you need another $15 Federal Migratory Bird Stamp.
The only limit was how many your boat would carry, or what you wanted to clean. You could also sell them at the fish markets.
“The federal agency that manages fishing announced yesterday that it intends to require most saltwater anglers to register...”
What’s wrong with this sentence?
Well, first it’s an unelected bureaucrat deciding to pass a law. Where in the Constitution can unelected dictators pass laws? That’s the job of elected representatives. This fascist bureaucrat is engaged in thievery of the worst sort - robbery of the right to representation via the ballot box.
Can we vote these unelected dictators out of office? No. Unelected functionairies writing law is one of the primary tenets of a dictatorship. Why are we allowing the establishment of a dictatorship in America?
Anyone who believes we are a free country is not paying attention. We are as oppressed by the state as serfs were 500 years ago. The only difference is that we nominally own property, but that property is de facto controlled by the criminal fascist syndicate occupying Washington.
We have a big job in front of us to take back our individual rights.
Get the Texas hunting and all water fishing package for $57.
I now live in the Keys as well.
Before I moved to 33042, I overnighted at a marina on Stock Island. At the break of dawn, a refrigerator truck pulled up to the dock and a fishing boat unloaded huge reef fish of a size I'd never, ever, seen before. It was suggested that the fish had been transported in the "wee hours" from the Bahamas. Could our individual fish, and our fisheries, be that depleted?
==8-O
I read somewhere recently that the federal government is planning to require a permit application filled out in triplicate, and a license with ‘fee paid’ stamp affixed, for the privilege of breaking wind.
I grew up here, and you never needed a saltwater license, but a few years ago that all changed. Plus as far as selling fish from recreational fishermen, that’s a no-no now, too. And the fact you can’t clean the fish while you’re on the water is also a bit of a pain.
My guys spearfish for the most part, and have no problem finding fish (we usually have grouper, snapper, the occasional cobia, and my favorite fish to eat, sheephead...they know if they’re diving they’d better bring me some sheephead...some people don’t eat them I’m told, but as one “captain” friend of ours says, the people who don’t eat sheephead never tasted them, LOL .)
The problem that we’re concerned about now is the resurgence of goliath groupers. When they dive, almost anywhere, they find goliath groupers. The talk of depletion of certain species on the reefs is often blamed on recreational fishermen, but we think the goliaths are what’s thinning out the numbers. Plus they’re not just on the reefs anymore. My son and a friend took our boat out last weekend, only went about a mile from shore, anchored under a bridge and free dove. They speared some nice snapper but they also said they counted no less than a half dozen goliaths (and that was in 20 ft. of water.)
Oh well, that’s my “gripe” for the day. Happy fishing!
They did it here in NC last year. $15 bucks for a saltwater fishing license.
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