Portal
Home
Calendar
Gallery
FAQ
Search
Register
Log inOcean sport fishing license plan floated
Ocean sport fishing license plan floated
by Outspoken on Fri Jul 18, 2008 5:50 am
Ocean sport fishing license plan floated
By John Holyoke
Staff Writer Bangor Daily News
Drive through any of Maine’s seaside towns this morning, and you’re likely to witness a timeless scene.
Youngsters and old-timers will have gathered on the town pier, fishing poles at the ready, a nearby cooler already iced down to preserve their day’s catch.
Fishing for saltwater fish — mackerel, for sure, and maybe a striped bass or bluefish — has always been popular here.
And in Maine, it has always been free.
If a new federal proposal is adopted, that could change in the near future.
The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration is seeking public comment on a proposal that would require anglers and spearfishers who fish recreationally in federal ocean waters and where anadromous fish are present to be registered before fishing in 2009.
NOAA’s proposal addresses federal legislation — the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act — which was reauthorized in 2007, and which advised NOAA to redesign its surveys of recreational anglers in the interest of increased accuracy.
There is, however, a bit of wiggle room in the federal proposal.
Patrick Keliher, the director of the Maine Department of Marine Resources’ Bureau of Sea-Run Fisheries & Habitat, said the Magnuson-Stevens Act requires a federal saltwater license by 2009, but offers states an alternative: A license system of their own.
"If states implement a similar license that meets the intent of [the] federal act, states can charge and keep all revenue generated from such a license, as long as the data is shared with NOAA Fisheries," Keliher said in an e-mail.
http://www.bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=167267&zoneid=500
(Bangor Daily News/Gabor Degre)
By John Holyoke
Staff Writer Bangor Daily News
Drive through any of Maine’s seaside towns this morning, and you’re likely to witness a timeless scene.
Youngsters and old-timers will have gathered on the town pier, fishing poles at the ready, a nearby cooler already iced down to preserve their day’s catch.
Fishing for saltwater fish — mackerel, for sure, and maybe a striped bass or bluefish — has always been popular here.
And in Maine, it has always been free.
If a new federal proposal is adopted, that could change in the near future.
The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration is seeking public comment on a proposal that would require anglers and spearfishers who fish recreationally in federal ocean waters and where anadromous fish are present to be registered before fishing in 2009.
NOAA’s proposal addresses federal legislation — the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act — which was reauthorized in 2007, and which advised NOAA to redesign its surveys of recreational anglers in the interest of increased accuracy.
There is, however, a bit of wiggle room in the federal proposal.
Patrick Keliher, the director of the Maine Department of Marine Resources’ Bureau of Sea-Run Fisheries & Habitat, said the Magnuson-Stevens Act requires a federal saltwater license by 2009, but offers states an alternative: A license system of their own.
"If states implement a similar license that meets the intent of [the] federal act, states can charge and keep all revenue generated from such a license, as long as the data is shared with NOAA Fisheries," Keliher said in an e-mail.
http://www.bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=167267&zoneid=500
(Bangor Daily News/Gabor Degre)
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
