Maine saltwater fishing license would be reasonable measure

[Sam]

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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[Sam]

Advocates, foes make their cases during hearing at Phippsburg clubhouse

PHIPPSBURG — A public information session on a proposed saltwater license drew about 30 people Monday night. Most turned out to object vehemently to what they see as a right, with several muttering "Fish free or die" as they took their seats at the Phippsburg Sportsman's Association clubhouse.

Rep. Leila Percy, D-Phippsburg — who sponsored the bill, LD 1811, that would institute a state saltwater fishing license program — joined Rep. Thom Watson, D-Bath; Bruce Joule, manager of recreational fishing for the Department of Marine Resources; and Sportsman's Alliance of Maine executive director George Smith to weigh in on the proposal.

The group spoke for about half an hour before responding to questions and comments that at times expressed frustration, anger and skepticism about the motive for and logic behind of the saltwater fishing license proposal.

Percy said she submitted the bill with Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Trenton, co-chairman of the Marine Resources Committee, because the federal government plans to institute a federal registry of saltwater anglers and licensing program to start in January 2009. If the federal government institutes the program, she said, license fees would go to them, but states will keep those fees if they institute a program.

Percy said that an April 23 public hearing on the bill in Augusta generated "so many good questions" that a committee work session on LD 1811 has been delayed until May 14.

Marine Resources Commissioner George Lapointe is in San Diego to meet with representatives of states that have similar licenses, she said, and he plans to present information on those programs at the work session.

Percy said Lapointe proposed an amendment to the bill, which she supports, in which once the "vehicle for the license" is decided on, the Department of Marine Resources would design the program and report back to the committee in 2008. The state would not start selling a license until 2009, she said.

"This is not a grab for taxes," said Watson, a member of the Taxation Committee. Watson said he disagrees with Percy about the proposed cost of the license, but does support a registry "to keep track of who's fishing in the salt. ... I truly feel it's inevitable. I know it's going to happen. The feds are making it happen. … All we're doing is taking charge of a program that's going to be forced on us. If you want a place at the table for working this thing out over the next couple of years, you need to get in there."

The Sportsman's Alliance of Maine opposes the license, said Smith, adding that although the federal government may require a registry in 2009, "we certainly don't have to do anything this year."

Smith said similar bills proposed in recent years have all been defeated, and while this year's version is getting more attention than usual, he remains confident it won't be successful.

Joule explained that current estimates for the number of recreational saltwater fishermen are unreliable, and a registry will provide "more accurate and precise estimates." Despite Joule's explanation that the statistical survey proposed has been peer-reviewed and vetted by statisticians, several audience members were skeptical of such data, including Phippsburg resident Tip Newell, who said he worked for National Marine Fisheries for 25 years.

"Data collected from recreational fishermen is worthless," Newell said. "Ninety percent is probably lies. …In my opinion, we should tell the federal government we're not interested in what you want."

"What if we tell the federal government to stick it?" Phippsburg resident Pete Roberts repeatedly asked Percy. "Who will enforce it? Our coastal wardens can't keep up with lobstering, and you're going to Mickey Mouse them with this? ... Our marine patrol cannot take on any added burden."

"I'm not interested in telling the federal government to stick it," Percy responded.

"You ought to be, Leila," Roberts fired back.

But commercial fisherman Ed Hunt of Phippsburg, citing federal regulations limiting the number of days a commercial boat can fish, said, "If you think the federal government can't do what they want to do, you're living in a fantasy world ... If you'd rather deal with the devil you don't know than the devil you do ..." Others questioned the cost of the program to the state of Maine. Percy said she expects Lapointe to return from San Diego with those numbers.

While a "yea or nay" show of hands requested by George Shaw of Pittston revealed only one audience member who supported a saltwater fishing license, Percy said the real question is whether they want a state license or a federal license.

"It's not a matter of if, but when," she said.

"I'd rather go with the when, and take my chances," Shaw said.

Smith said while he is not advocating a licensing program, he proposed implementing the current system used by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife "if you ever wanted to do it in a sensible way ... You could plug into that system at no additional cost" to track only those fishing in salt water.

Percy said the committee will still accept public testimony by mail or e-mail until the May 14 work session, which she encouraged people to attend.

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[Sam]

Members of the Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee held hearings last week on a bill that would create a saltwater-fishing license system in Maine. While the idea has surfaced on several occasions over the past decade, there is additional urgency on the part of state officials now because a backroom measure has been introduced at the federal level to require a “registry” of saltwater anglers. States that have a federally approved saltwater fishing license will be exempt. Officials in the Maine Department of Marine Resources are arguing that the state can keep all the money by imposing a license here first. For Maine’s already overburdened taxpayers, that’s a lot like giving a condemned man the choice of execution by lethal injection or the electric chair.


According to federal estimates, there are as many as 350,000 saltwater anglers in Maine. Multiply that by the proposed $15 fee for residents – out-of-staters will be charged substantially more for individual licenses – and the minimum potential annual revenue comes to more than $5.2 million.


As submitted to the committee, the bill requires that the money collected go into a fund to be used for resource and habitat enhancement, fisheries management research, acquisition of critical land, enforcement of marine resources laws, education and outreach and, of course, “administration and operating expenses.”
The English translation for all of this – a new bloated bureaucracy.


One of the true pleasures of living near the ocean is the idea that if you want to try and catch something for supper, all you have to do is dig out your fishing rod and head down to the shore. It is comforting to think that there are still places where a person can wrest some sustenance from mother nature without first having to fill out a pile of forms in triplicate and then paying a hefty fee.


It wasn’t too many years ago that a Maine resident could go down to the water after work, dig a few clams or maybe untangle the drop line, dangle it off the town float and catch the occasional flounder. Add a few peas and new potatoes from the garden and you had a pretty satisfying, inexpensive meal.


To do that today you first must get your recreational claming license, which will set you back $20. Then, because property taxes are so high few can afford to live on the saltwater anymore, you’ll have to drive down to the flats or the dock where you may or may not have to pay to park. If you want to use a boat, the craft requires annual state registration fees both for boat and motor. You also may have to pay a fee to use the public launch ramp – $5 and up per use in some places. Of course, getting there isn’t cheap either.


So what’s another $15 on top of all that for a saltwater fishing license?
The saddest fact is that the state may be creating an entire new agency to regulate — and, in effect, tax — an activity that probably catches fewer fish in an entire year than a larger trawler nets during a week at sea.


In the end, a saltwater fishing license isn’t about regulating and monitoring fisheries. It’s about government chasing another pot of your gold. Instead of fighting so hard to get more of our money and create an even larger state bureaucracy, state officials should reject this latest licensing push and put an equal amount of time and effort into trying to fight the federal licensing rule.

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