That’s OK, them Eastern fellows have always been slow on the "taxation without representation" angle

What's in Your Wallet? The Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation Act included the creation of a Federal Registry of Salt Water Anglers, with nine states having to sell salt water fishing licenses for the first time.

Specifically, MSA ยง401(g) mandates the Secretary to implement a federal requirement for anglers and for-hire vessels to register, and to provide identification and contact information, if they fish in the EEZ, for Continental Shelf Resources beyond the EEZ or for anadromous fish in any waters. Further, the Secretary is to exempt from the federal registration requirement those anglers and vessels that are licensed or registered by a state if the state provides sufficient identification and contact information for use in
recreational surveys.

I had assumed every state required a salt water fishing license, that’s not the case. Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Hawaii have no such requirement, and their anglers are beginning to grumble at the prospect.

“Anadromous fish in any waters” also requires a license, which would extend the practice to stripers, salmon, steelhead, shad, and many other gamefish. The intent of the legislation is to increase the ability of the US to gather metrics on fishing and fishermen, largely to assist the Federal government to determine what’s being caught, and how many.

States that already gather this information are exempt from any new license or process, but that may spawn an uptick in the price, much remains to be seen.

The law goes into effect on January 1, 2009 – with the states required to report information thereafter. You may have something handed to you when you go renew your license for 2008.

I have no issues with any of the above, but the idea of that vast mailing list of anglers being stolen off a federal laptop has me concerned. I can handle the identity theft, it’s the SPAM I’ll get after the list is sold to the Rapala Corporation that concerns me.

Technorati Tags: , , ,