Legal Charter Boats

[Wasabi]

Looking for opinions.

How concerned should a fisherman be about the legality of the charter boat he is fishing on?

I know that legitimate charter services resent the illegal boats stealing business. What about the anglers?

Should anglers at least "ask" if the boats are legal? Should he even care? Curious about your views.

What about in a foreign country? Should you care if your boat is chartering legally in let's say "the Bahamas"?

[KEY-LIME-PIE]

Hey Wasabi, you still in Isla?

Capt Tom

[marlin magnet]

what if your to have an accident, and the outfit isn't properly insured. suppose a tragic death.

[frankypettolina]

Now, do you mean legal as far as has all of the safety equipment, proper insurance and a licensed captain?

or do you mean legal as far as the country you are fishing in allowing American boats to charter?

To me, from an anglers point of view these are 2 different scenarios.

I believe it is illegal for American boats to run charters in many foreign countries, BUT they get around it by having "guests" of the owner come in and go fishing with them. That was how most boats were doing it in Venezuela in the 90's and mexico in the 90's when I was in those places. I can tell you that the American boats were much "safer" to go on than most, not all, but most of the local operations back then.

If I had a legit, govt. legal charter business in one of those areas, I might feel slighted by these operations.

On the other hand, if you are talking about a weekender that is soliciting charters to help "offset" the cost of his hobby, and he does not have proper USCG licensing/equipment, charter insurance etc... Those I have a problem with.

[Banshee]

Franky,
I concur!!!
JW

[Corrina dog]

It sucks when someone else takes money and is not legit! Go with someone that has the proper paper work. It can go to sh** very fast. Use your head!

[aprilfool]

in the bahamas you need to buy for $1000.00 from the port department a foregin charter license and you have to book all your charters in the states, as we speak the local newspapers are running full page ads warning of the confiscation of vessels and imprisonment of violators, with the economy the way it is, the bahamian authorities are enforcing these laws trying to protect the local operators livelihood. Not a good idea to try chartering now a days without proper license, and before you do book a trip i would check to make sure your with someone that adheres to the laws, as you would hate to go and find out you have no boat to fish on. I know most of the guys here are 100% straight and have been going to the islands for a long time and know the drill.

[gottaflylee]

Well said Franky. I hope that after my safety talk each morning that there is no question as to wither we are legal on not...

[Squidnation]

Thats a tough one. clients should really stick to legal operations. But there is no way anyone on this board can tell me that the average once or twice a year charter would know what questions to ask about what documents the operation should carry. All one can do is ask if they are legal. I really doubt that an illigal operation would say yes sir, We ain't got squat for permits.

I got asked to fish a tournament on a charter boat last year. This is a boat I use to fish on quite a bit. I asked the owner (this is a charter boat) if he had a dolphin/wahoo permit. He said, huh? He called me back and said my captain says we don't need one.

How about the two boats in the last two years that had qualifing marlin in their tournaments just to find out they didn't have the correct HMS permit or any HMS permit.

Sorry its kind of off target but the regs are so confounded that I imagine quite a few boats are illigal and don't even know it.

All you can do is ask

[Capt. kapoc]

From the angler point of view i think it should be a very large issue wether the boat is legal or not. If a capt dosen't take the time and isn't involved enough to be totally legal you need to think of what else he has skipped over, like required saftey gear, (type 3 vs type1 PFDs) expired flares, no eperb, no fire supression system or the biggest of all required charter insurance . The sky is the limit when it comes to the problems that you might have. One of the easiest ways to get a hint that the charter operation might not be legit is; Charges WAAAYYYY under the rest of the fleet, or is really cheap for the size. If you have any doubt ask them about their permits, saftey equiptment etc.

Capt. Mike Beane
Blue Dragon Charters