January 18, 2009
New Hampshire
(partial text)
We hate to keep banging on the subject of the proposal to license saltwater anglers, but some new and interesting ideas came from New Jersey’s Regional Fishing Alliance that have not been raised here in the Granite State.
Proposed legislation to bring this licensing to New Hampshire has been some of the most unpopular to come before our legislature in years, producing often heated response from saltwater anglers and other outdoorsmen.
New Jersey has been facing some of the same type of heat. It has a bill before its legislature for a “free registry” instead of a license, which would allow the state to collect saltwater fishing information to better manage the resource, but would not cost anglers anything. The Alliance supports this bill, but opposes licensing of saltwater anglers.
The “free registry bill” is an attempt to meet a requirement by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that states provide the USFWS with fishery information. Failure by states to provide some kind of saltwater fishing registry will mean a federal registry imposed on anglers with some kind of fee that has been suggested will be somewhere between $15 and $25.
The Alliance is finding opposition to the free registry bill, and support for licensing, from some traditional allies.
James A. Donofrio, the Alliance director, claims that the New Jersey director of Fish and Wildlife and some of his people oppose the free registry bill, and adds that non-profits such as the American Sportfishing Institute and the Coastal Conservation Association are trying to attract more people to fishing, but by supporting the saltwater fishing license they’re working against greater participation.
Donofrio emphasized that the feds’ asking for some kind of state method of providing saltwater angling information is not asking for the states to do any more than to provide the information, not to administer an expensive program.
So here’s my take on this whole thing.
All states were required by the federal government several years ago to provide waterfowl hunting information to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. So all states implemented a free program called the Harvest Information Plan.
This HIP causes very little financial draw on the state fish and wildlife departments. In New Hampshire, information is gathered when you apply for your current HIP number with a short interview, either by phone or on-line by computer.
Failure to have an HIP number is punishable by law (children under 16 are exempt). This program has stood the test of time and is working well all over the country.
So you’ve got to know that the subject of a saltwater fishing license is about money, not the empty threat that if we don’t have a saltwater fishing license the feds will impose one on us.
That is false — the feds are mandating an information and statistic-gathering device that doesn’t necessarily mean a license.
I’ve never heard the waterfowling HIP plan called a license. Never. It’s strictly a way to gather statistics. And we have no doubt that saltwater statistics are necessary for the good of the resource.
But every time you drive participants away from using a resource, you are also losing part of the resource’s support group.
We’ve been recently deluged with claims that the loss of hunters and anglers (info provided by declining license sales) is going to hurt the resource more than financially because the resource will also suffer loss of general support. If you don’t think that a saltwater fishing license is going to decrease the amount of saltwater anglers, you’re dreaming!
One last point about the saltwater license thing. We’ll be losing a birthright that was established at the settlement of this country and replacing it with a privilege.
Our Fish and Game Department has done a remarkable job of performing more than well in times of financial restrictions. We don’t doubt that a new flow of revenue would be appreciated. But certainly right now, with the country in the severe financial situation it is in, a free saltwater registry system should keep the feds off our backs. How about just a simple checkoff on the regular hunting/fishing license application to make a voluntary contribution to saltwater resources? And an HIP-type of plan to develop the information and statistical requirements that we are being mandated to provide?