Anew saying might read thusly: "The best things in life used to be free." Everywhere you turn, it seems, someone or some entity is holding out a hand to collect a fee. The most recent example of the nickel-and-dime collection syndrome is likely to fall on anglers who go out on the ocean with a fishing pole and a desire to emulate Ernest Hemingway. Right now, it doesn't cost anything to fish for recreation off Maine's coast, but state lawmakers are considering whether such saltwater fishing should require a license. While the notion of a "free to fish" ocean is worth defending, it's more appropriate to support a law requiring a $15 annual fee for a saltwater license. If you're not from Maine, then you'll have to pay twice that much. There are several reasons to support the proposal. For starters, there's the issue of revenue. One estimate puts the state's take from a saltwater licensing program at $3 million to $5 million per year. Given that Maine's fisheries are in dire straits, that money could be well spent on restoration programs for fish stocks.
Maine's proposal also comes in advance of new federal policies that will mandate an annual U.S. license in 2011 -- with that revenue going to Washington. But if Maine has it's own prior policy, it can keep the licensing income because a federal license won't be required in those states that already have approved programs. Licensing also creates a convenient database of recreational fishermen, who can be queried as to where they fish and what they catch. That information could be very useful in assessing the impact of recreational fishing on fish stocks and Maine's economy. In the end, we have a responsibility to guard our natural resources, and that includes charging a reasonable fee that helps to protect them.
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