December 27, 2008
Eagle Tribune
WASHINGTON — Fishing off of local beaches or off of a boat in saltwater will not require a federal license for another year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced.
After reviewing nearly 500 comments on its proposed registry, NOAA announced that the registration requirement will be delayed until Jan. 1, 2010.
Many coastal states in the South and West already require saltwater fishermen to be licensed, but currently states north of New Jersey, including Massachusetts and New Hampshire, do not require a license for fishing in saltwater, or in tidal waters for “anadromous” fish, which are migrating species like striped bass or salmon.
The registry is mandated under amendments made to the Federal Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Act in 2006 as a way to better manage recreational fishing, how it impacts fishing stocks and to gauge its value to local economies.
“NOAA wants to work closely with the states and anglers to better capture the contributions and effects of sport fishing,” said Jim Balsiger, NOAA acting assistant administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service, in a statement. “We expect that this additional year will allow a number of states to put in place systems to register their anglers annually and provide this information to NOAA.”
NOAA had originally proposed that registration be required beginning Jan. 1, 2009, but based on public input decided to give states another year to put in place their own data collection systems.
Federal rules for the registry system were issued to states in June, at which time Massachusetts was still in a very “preliminary stage” in developing its own licensing system, according to Mary Griffin, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game.
Griffin said the state viewed the true deadline to be Jan. 1, 2011, when an estimated fee of $15 to $25 per angler will be charged for the federal license. To implement state licenses, an act of the Legislature would likely be required, and that couldn’t be considered until next year at the earliest.
In that case, a year from now Bay State saltwater fishermen would be registering federally until a state system is created.
If states have their own registry, and if that information is made available to NOAA, people who sign up with the state would not have to also join the federal program.
New Hampshire Fish and Game officials have said there has been some discussion among New England states about creating a regional license that would cover multiple states to make it easier for, say, a Newburyport striped bass fisherman to cross over Seabrook without needing a separate license.
NOAA said that recreational saltwater licensing or registry programs are lacking in Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Puerto Rico.
Federal saltwater angler registrations will include an angler’s name, date of birth, address, telephone number and the regions where they intend to fish. NOAA will use the information to conduct surveys on fishing effort and amounts of fish caught.
The agency said that once a person has registered, they may fish anywhere in U.S. federal waters regardless of the region or regions the person specified on the registration form, though it’s unclear whether individual states might require local licenses if they create their own registry.
Due to a more than $1 million deficit in its Fish and Game Department, the state of New Hampshire considered getting ahead of the curve by enacting its own saltwater licensing program in 2007. The proposal was sunk when tourist-fed businesses along the New Hampshire seacoast decried the idea, feeling it would simply send anglers and their wallets over the Massachusetts border.
The registration rule, with certain exceptions, will cover anyone who fishes recreationally in federal waters.
— People who fish only on licensed party, charter or guide boats would not be required to register, as those vessels are surveyed separately.
— Those with permits to fish for highly migratory species, such as tunas or swordfish, and those fishing under commercial fishing licenses will be exempt.
— Anglers registered or permitted to fish in a formal state or federal subsistence fishery will also be exempt, as will anglers under 16.