Next year, saltwater anglers will have to pay a fee to fish off our coast, but they may end up paying it to the federal government.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Duncan Barnes is a board member of the Coastal Conservation Association – Maine, and Michael Tetrault is state director of the Nature Conservancy in Maine.
BRUNSWICK — Maine has the opportunity not only to bolster funding for the state agency that manages the health of our marine resources but to improve our knowledge of recreational saltwater fishing in state waters as well. To do this, Maine must enact LD 1331, which establishes a saltwater fishing registry.
Here's why that makes all the sense in the world.
For openers, if Maine government doesn't offer these licenses, the federal government will, and the fees will travel out of state. Common sense says Mainers would be better off keeping their license revenues in state instead of sending them to Washington, D.C.
Under the newly reauthorized federal Magnuson-Stevens Act, all recreational saltwater fishermen in Maine were required to register with the federal government as of January 1, 2010. This year, there is no fee. But beginning on Jan. 1, 2011, the feds will start charging Maine saltwater anglers a fee estimated at $15 to $25 – and all the money will go straight to federal coffers.
Congress passed this new fishing law so they could find out how many saltwater anglers there are and what species they fish for. And Congress also had the good judgment to exempt those states with programs already in place to generate the necessary data.
NEIGHBORS DOING IT
Our neighbors in New Hampshire – the original "live free or die" state – have already created a saltwater fishing license to commence next Jan. 1. Massachusetts and Connecticut have licenses as well, and Rhode Island will have one soon. This leaves Maine as the only coastal state in New England whose anglers could soon be sending their money to the U.S. Treasury rather than putting it to good use supporting their own recreational fishing opportunities at home.
So Maine needs a plan – and soon.
Fairness dictates that those who benefit from a resource should contribute to its maintenance and management. Certainly Maine's commercial fishermen contribute – through license fees and research surcharges – to the science necessary to monitor the resources on which they rely.
Commercial fishermen also contribute to the enforcement of marine resource laws, as well as the search-and-rescue efforts made on their behalf. Likewise, Maine hunters and freshwater fishermen buy licenses, understanding that those licenses go to enrich their sport. Why shouldn't saltwater recreational fishermen in Maine do the same?
To responsibly manage natural resources costs money. The funding for much of the fisheries restoration work being done on striped bass, American shad and alewives by the Department of Marine Resources (Bureau of Sea Run Fisheries and Habitat) will run out in 2012.
A modest $15 annual license fee, with exemptions for people over age 70 and under age 16, would generate sufficient funding to continue the good work that DMR is currently doing and support efforts to increase and enhance the recreational saltwater fishing experience so important to Mainers and to Maine's economy. The license would be administered by DMR with the assistance of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
And since 50 percent of saltwater anglers in Maine are non-residents, folks from away would be contributing directly to the management of the state's marine resources for the first time.
MONEY STAYS HERE
The licensing legislation proposed includes the creation of an advisory council to help decide how to allocate license revenues. Imagine what could be accomplished: expanded angling opportunities through the restoration of shad runs in all of the state's major tidal rivers, as well as the recovery and restoration of native striped bass populations in the Kennebec and Penobscot; continued restoration of alewives and winter flounder; and improved coastal access.
There is no shortage of worthwhile and achievable goals.
Based on these facts, the following groups are in favor of approving a saltwater license this legislative session: The Nature Conservancy in Maine, Coastal Conservation Association – Maine, Atlantic Salmon Federation, Maine Rivers, Natural Resources Council of Maine, Midcoast Fishermen's Association and the Maine Lobstermen's Association.
Maine has an abundance of marine resources that should continue to provide exceptional value and enjoyment – as long as we're good stewards. The time to pass LD 1331 and establish a saltwater angling license in Maine is now! It's just common sense.
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