Nat'l Saltwater Angler Registry

[Bay Runner]

Look like another license/tax for us fisherman
Check out this link:http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories..._registry.html
Don't know if it has been brought up here or not, it is free for this year but will cost between 15.00 and 25.00 next year and will go up after that I'm sure

[MasterBaiter]

NJ has the same thing. We don't have a saltwater license(yet) and this is required by the Feds for some sort of funding. If you have a license in another state you are not required to register.

The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if this is some way for the Feds to get numbers of recreational fisherman so they know what regs they will be able to pass against us without re-election issues.

Does anyone know the real reason?

[Bay Runner]

you need to check the list (on the NOAA website) of states some you are not required to register and some like Va you are

[McGillicuddy]

I've been buying a fishing licenses (resident and non-resident) every year since I was 16. It's the best bargain I get every year. I'm kind of surprised that some states don't require a fishing license, especially densely populated states like MA, RI and NJ.

The purpose is to asses the impact recreational anglers have on the coastal fisheries. Is there a dark side? Yeah, probably. And the anglers who believe that may misrepresent their catch thinking it will affect data analysis. Lie high, NMFS thinks your take is jeopardizing the future stocks. Lie low, they'll interpret the data as the stocks being perilously low...

Funding goes to enforcement, education, watershed management, and species restoration, etc. And a lot of angler money ends up elsewhere (probably even greenie grants, God forbid).

All in all, if done without a secret agenda to wipe out fishing, it is a good thing - especially as population continues to grow.

If the states already have a saltwater licensing or if they institute one, they meet the requirements for this rule and you will not have to buy some federal permit. Lots of state anglers are upset that they now have to buy a license and are fighting it in the courts - I believe NY is one.

Bottom line is - yes, the feds want to know who is fishing and what they are catching. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requires the feds to stop "overfishing" by 2011. This "registry" is one of the tools they plan to use.

Is it right? Is it fair? Will it do any good? My guess is no to all of these questions. Environmentalists - PETA, et al - are backing this to the hilt, because they can push this agenda and never have to make their face show in public. They also are behind the "Clean Water Act" that will put the feds in control of every body of water that has access to the oceans. They will regulate what can be done on that water - boating, fishing, whatever - and the states will have no power to overturn.

This is serious business to boating as well as fishing. To "protect the manatee" there are areas on Florida's east coast that are off limits not just to boats - but to ANY human presence. The plans to curtail boat access in Everglades National Park are draconian at best - idle only - paddle only, etc. It's what we are going to have to live with if we don't speak up and participate in the debates!

Sorry - sore subject with me and I get carried away...

[pl99]

bLEEP bLEEP BLEEP BLEEEPING BLEEPPER OF A BLEEEP BLLLLLLEEEEEEPPPPPING MOTHERBLEEEPPPPP NOAA,PETA,NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES, THE WHOLE BUNCH OF THEM..

Everyone has to fight this one,whether recreational,commercial,
The manatees are saved now save the Fishing industry. Like I always say ban Imported fish, and poachers.

Their has to be a way to come to a happy medium, and the way it's going it is not a happy Ending.. LOL <Happy Ending>

[DonV]

I've got no issue paying for a fishing license....I've got "skin in the game"....I use the boat ramps, the resources, etc. I'm happy to support myself. What pisses me off is the folks who have NO skin in the game, don't fish, can't even tie a fishing knot, have no idea what's the difference of starboard from port, however they know all and have all the answers concerning everything we do or we should do to make their "perfect agenda" succesful and supporters happy!!!! Bad subject.....I might want to stop before I really use bad language. Gotta be careful, I might blow an artery and have to go to the ER and get free care......never mind!!!!! I can't, I'm one of those who is going to pay for the poor folks to get free care. You know those guys, the ones in the lower 50% income bracket, pay no taxes but get free care....back to the "no skin in the game". I'm stopping.....

[McGillicuddy]

You're right DFA, We've (anglers, spearfishers and commercial fishers) been fighting this for years in CA and we are the only ones who come to the table with science and resource management plans and keep getting beat by predetermined agenda pushers of the peta kind. Central and Northern CA have been duped by area closures for several years. Down south we've been hit with various depth regs for bottom fish but last year we actually lost several productive coastal areas.

Now they will be Marine Life Protection Areas. And they are not closed temporarily, but rather indefinitely. Wish us luck getting those back. Even over 70% of the environmentally inclined believe fishing is a right/or privilege given a license is in hand.

This past fall pro-closure groups were busing in kids from the inner city and even Tijuana MX to these "for show" public meetings to have them say how much they like to see fish alive. Some of these kids have never even been to the beach. What a racket.

The stakeholders were ignored...go figure.

The irony is that the state is in econmic shambles and they are creating legislation that will annihilate a huge portion of the coastal economy, and they don't have money to enforce the new laws...what a joke! Hard to believe this has occurred under a republican Governator. Arnold should have been impeached for the disaster he has allowed to occur here.

Like I said - a very sore subject...

[NoBones]

Just face it guys, we elect law makers every election.
As this country gets older, new laws are enacted every day!
We will all be criminals whether we like it or NOT!!!
Just my 2 cents worth.
It is time to take our Country BACK!!!!!!!
Enough is enough.

See ya, Ken