I have been hearing for some time now that the new Federal Magnuson Act is somehow mandating all states to create a saltwater fishing license. I spent a few minutes the other day researching this and found out that there is a lot of misinformation out there concerning this new law. Below is a very rough summary of my findings:
The New Magnuson Act Requirement Facts
The new Magnuson Act requires that the federal government create the following: ‘‘(1) FEDERAL PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall establish and implement a regionally based registry program for recreational fishermen in each of the 8 fishery management regions. The program, which shall not require a fee before January 1, 2011, shall provide for” There are two very important points in this mandate.
1. It does not use the term “license”.
2. Although it states that a fee shall not be required before 2011, it also does not authorize a fee after that.
The registration program is not for “all” salt water recreational fishermen. The Act specifically states only the following groups are required to participate:
‘‘(A) the registration (including identification and contact information) of individuals who engage in recreational fishing—
‘‘(i) in the Exclusive Economic Zone;
‘‘(ii) for anadromous species; or
‘‘(iii) for Continental Shelf fishery resources beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone; and
‘‘(B) if appropriate, the registration (including the ownership, operator, and identification of the vessel) of vessels used in such fishing.
• (i) - The Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) includes marine waters from 3 to 200 miles off shore. This exempts an enormous amount of sportsmen that fish from shore or from small craft fishing within the 3 mile limit.
• (ii) - Anadromous species include American Shad, Blueback Herring, Alewife, Atlantic Sturgeon, Shortnose Sturgeon, Atlantic Salmon, Sea Lamprey, etc. Within this list the only active recreational fishery would be for the American Shad. The Shad fishery normally takes place in rivers far upstream from the ocean and should most likely be covered by the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife rather than Marine Fisheries.
• (iii) - The continental shelf fishery beyond the EEZ would seem to have an extremely limited fishing pressure from recreational fishermen.
• (B) – Since the bulk of the Act places requirements on those who fish far off shore, it is only logical to use the existing Massachusetts boat registration system to meet the requirements.
The Act also allows the state’s offshore and anadromous fishermen to be exempted from the federal registration program under paragraph (2). Carefully notice that the exemption states “licensed, permitted or registered” not exclusively licensed:
(2) STATE PROGRAMS.—The Secretary shall exempt from registration under the program recreational fishermen and charter fishing vessels licensed, permitted, or registered under the laws of a State if the Secretary determines that information from the State program is suitable for the Secretary’s use or is used to assist in completing marine recreational fisheries statistical surveys, or evaluating the effects of proposed conservation and management measures for marine recreational fisheries.
The purpose of this new effort is to collect data from recreational saltwater fishermen fishing 3 miles or more off shore and those targeting anadromous species. The “Methodology” paragraph again does not specify that anyone has to be licensed, but merely mentions they should be registered which again could be easily done through our current Massachusetts boat registration system.
‘‘(C) METHODOLOGY.—Unless the Secretary determines that alternate methods will achieve this goal more efficiently and effectively, the program shall, to the extent possible, include—
‘‘(i) an adequate number of intercepts to accurately estimate recreational catch and effort;
‘‘(ii) use of surveys that target anglers registered or licensed at the State or Federal level to collect participation and effort data;
‘‘(iii) collection and analysis of vessel trip report data from charter fishing vessels;
‘‘(iv) development of a weather corrective factor that can be applied to recreational catch and effort estimates; and
‘‘(v) an independent committee composed of recreational fishermen, academics, persons with expertise in stock assessments and survey design, and appropriate personnel from the National Marine Fisheries Service to review the collection estimates, geographic, and other variables related to dockside intercepts and to identify deficiencies in recreational data collection, and possible correction measures.
It is quite clear from the language in this Act that it does not require a salt water fishing license and that it also excludes perhaps tens of thousands of salt water anglers that don’t fish 3 or more miles off shore or fish for anadromous species.
The requirements of this program can easily be accomplished by using the current boat registration system and/or using a system similar to the waterfowl hunters Harvest Information Program (HIP). The HIP system uses and “800” number that every waterfowler must call at the beginning of the year and report last year’s harvest and then receive a new annual HIP registration number.
The New Magnuson Act Requirement Facts
The new Magnuson Act requires that the federal government create the following: ‘‘(1) FEDERAL PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall establish and implement a regionally based registry program for recreational fishermen in each of the 8 fishery management regions. The program, which shall not require a fee before January 1, 2011, shall provide for” There are two very important points in this mandate.
1. It does not use the term “license”.
2. Although it states that a fee shall not be required before 2011, it also does not authorize a fee after that.
The registration program is not for “all” salt water recreational fishermen. The Act specifically states only the following groups are required to participate:
‘‘(A) the registration (including identification and contact information) of individuals who engage in recreational fishing—
‘‘(i) in the Exclusive Economic Zone;
‘‘(ii) for anadromous species; or
‘‘(iii) for Continental Shelf fishery resources beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone; and
‘‘(B) if appropriate, the registration (including the ownership, operator, and identification of the vessel) of vessels used in such fishing.
• (i) - The Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) includes marine waters from 3 to 200 miles off shore. This exempts an enormous amount of sportsmen that fish from shore or from small craft fishing within the 3 mile limit.
• (ii) - Anadromous species include American Shad, Blueback Herring, Alewife, Atlantic Sturgeon, Shortnose Sturgeon, Atlantic Salmon, Sea Lamprey, etc. Within this list the only active recreational fishery would be for the American Shad. The Shad fishery normally takes place in rivers far upstream from the ocean and should most likely be covered by the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife rather than Marine Fisheries.
• (iii) - The continental shelf fishery beyond the EEZ would seem to have an extremely limited fishing pressure from recreational fishermen.
• (B) – Since the bulk of the Act places requirements on those who fish far off shore, it is only logical to use the existing Massachusetts boat registration system to meet the requirements.
The Act also allows the state’s offshore and anadromous fishermen to be exempted from the federal registration program under paragraph (2). Carefully notice that the exemption states “licensed, permitted or registered” not exclusively licensed:
(2) STATE PROGRAMS.—The Secretary shall exempt from registration under the program recreational fishermen and charter fishing vessels licensed, permitted, or registered under the laws of a State if the Secretary determines that information from the State program is suitable for the Secretary’s use or is used to assist in completing marine recreational fisheries statistical surveys, or evaluating the effects of proposed conservation and management measures for marine recreational fisheries.
The purpose of this new effort is to collect data from recreational saltwater fishermen fishing 3 miles or more off shore and those targeting anadromous species. The “Methodology” paragraph again does not specify that anyone has to be licensed, but merely mentions they should be registered which again could be easily done through our current Massachusetts boat registration system.
‘‘(C) METHODOLOGY.—Unless the Secretary determines that alternate methods will achieve this goal more efficiently and effectively, the program shall, to the extent possible, include—
‘‘(i) an adequate number of intercepts to accurately estimate recreational catch and effort;
‘‘(ii) use of surveys that target anglers registered or licensed at the State or Federal level to collect participation and effort data;
‘‘(iii) collection and analysis of vessel trip report data from charter fishing vessels;
‘‘(iv) development of a weather corrective factor that can be applied to recreational catch and effort estimates; and
‘‘(v) an independent committee composed of recreational fishermen, academics, persons with expertise in stock assessments and survey design, and appropriate personnel from the National Marine Fisheries Service to review the collection estimates, geographic, and other variables related to dockside intercepts and to identify deficiencies in recreational data collection, and possible correction measures.
It is quite clear from the language in this Act that it does not require a salt water fishing license and that it also excludes perhaps tens of thousands of salt water anglers that don’t fish 3 or more miles off shore or fish for anadromous species.
The requirements of this program can easily be accomplished by using the current boat registration system and/or using a system similar to the waterfowl hunters Harvest Information Program (HIP). The HIP system uses and “800” number that every waterfowler must call at the beginning of the year and report last year’s harvest and then receive a new annual HIP registration number.
