I found this link to the law. It's only four pages and answers most of my questions. There's two changes at the end. One changes from keeping finfish to fishing, license required for catch and release activity. It also allows for charter boat customers to be covered by the boat. Pretty simple read, all funds stay out of the general fund. Like the others, once the politicians find out there is money/revenue it'll be changed.
I attended a meeting last spring with a rep from Federal Gov., and most what has been written here is true. Our great federal reps.&Senators signed off on this new requirement. Mass. actually held off in implementing the law. Do not know how they will issue lic...independent saltwater lic of an indorsement on the freshwater hunting lic..
This money IS NOT going to marine projects etc.,it's already going to be going directly into gen fund.
This was never set up like the Walloup/Brough (spelling) bill witch MANDATED that 100% of money collected went to sportsmans issues/projects....any way..this is another example of people not standing together and letting BIG Brother rule our lives....Have a good turkey day....Tommy
The purpose of the licensing is to provide accurate data on the number of fishermen and their catches, allowing better regulation of the species. Whether this will come true is doubtful but one can always hope. As far as Federal waters go you the Feds want the license so you are out of luck there. I guess if you caught a fish in NH that had id that said it lived in NH you might be alright. Otherwise you are going to need the license where you bring it to shore as well as where you caught it.
I was thinking today and found some positive on this believe it or not.... Ma will sell 10's of thousands of these licenses, probally closer to a few hundred thousand, that alone will give us a voice and some power. Until now our State had no real idea how many people fished the salt, this new form of tracking could back fire on them and for a small contribution give us some power to battle both the State and the Commercial Fisherman, remember commericial guys have a pretty powerful voice when it comes to limits and restrictions, we're stuck with this, but I think we could turn this into a good thing if we put our heads together...Power in Numbers and now its documented!!!!!
Colonel Joe Fessenden of the Maine Marine Patrol, fresh from an out-of-state briefing on the registry by NOAA’s Gordon Colvin, expressed strong disagreement with the notion that his Marine Patrol officers would be enforcing the registry requirement for the feds.
“We’re getting no federal funds for this,” said Fessenden, “and I’m down six officers” due to budget cuts, leaving the Marine Patrol with just forty-four officers. Obviously exasperated, Fessenden said, “There is no way we can add this to our duties. We won’t be checking anglers to find out if they registered.”
It’s questionable how many Maine saltwater anglers will register if the Maine Marine Patrol refuses to enforce the federal requirement. Maine anglers have been outspoken in their opposition to a saltwater fishing license and are certain to be antagonistic to this new federal mandate, particularly if there is little or no enforcement. But fines are authorized for those who fish in saltwater without registering.
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