November 18, 2008
Seacoast Online
Democrats will collapse fishing industry with more fees
PORTSMOUTH — Among the topics that will be discussed at a Fish and Game meeting on Thursday is a saltwater angler registry that will come with a licensing fee, and charter captains say they are not happy with the idea.
Kevin Sullivan, a marine biologist for Fish and Game’s Marine Fisheries Division, said there will definitely be a licensing requirement. The only real issue to be resolved is whether the federal government or the state gets the money from the fees.
Meeting of the New Hampshire Fish and Game is to be held on:
Thursday, Nov. 20, 7 PM
Urban Forestry Center
45 Elwyn Road, Portsmouth
Charter Captain John Savage of Rye said he doesn’t object so much to the idea of a license, but is concerned what it will do to an already troubled fishing industry.
“The fishing industry is on the verge of collapse,” Savage said. “They will say it’s federally mandated to have a registry of anglers, but the state is trying to work an alternative so they get the money. I know the state needs money, but the fishing industry is caught in the middle. The state is trying to bleed money out of a dead industry.”
He said the fisherman need disaster relief as is happening in other states, like Massachusetts.
“Maybe give us some help and then ask for something like this,” Savage said.
Sullivan said the saltwater registry was mandated nationally by the National Marine Fisheries Service, as part of the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the regulatory arm of the fishing industry.
“We are looking at an alternative through our state legislators,” Sullivan said. “NMFS will make it free for two years and then there will be a fee that would go to NMFS and not to the state,” Sullivan said. “If a salt water license was created by the state, the fee would go to the state.”
In a letter sent by Fish and Game to the charter boat owners and captains, Doug Grout, Chief of Marine Fisheries, said if the money can be kept in the state, it will benefit local fisheries management.
“The department would like to propose legislation to implement a $15 saltwater license in New Hampshire that would become effective in 2011 and be reciprocal with our neighboring states of Maine and Massachusetts,” Grout said, in his letter. “By doing this, we would improve the estimates of recreational harvest, exempt New Hampshire anglers from having to register with the National Saltwater Angler Registry, and have the funds collected from a license be dedicated to New Hampshire Fish and Game for marine fisheries management, law enforcement and access in tidal waters.”
The captains say it’s a ploy to get money from them.
“I think it’s a bad idea and I don’t think you’ll find anyone who fishes who won’t think it’s a bad idea,” said Rocky Gauron, one of the owners of Al Gauron Deep Sea Fishing Charters in Hampton. “It’s for the state to raise money. There will be no services provided. They are not helping us with resources we need to fish, like launching ramps. It’s just a tax, that’s all.”
Gauron said he will attend the meeting and he knows of many more also planning to go.
“It’s too bad it’s come to this,” Gauron said. “I know Fish and Game needs money. This was mandated by NMFS but I believe it is just a ploy to throw back at us. I don’t think the Feds want anything to do with this. New Hampshire tried to get a salt water anglers license last year and it was shot down by the Legislature. All of a sudden they re-did the act and said they want to register everybody. In 2011 everyone gets a bill to go fishing in the ocean.”
Gauron also owns Hampton Harbor Tackle on the state pier. He said he fears this will ruin that business, too.
Ritchie White, a commissioner for the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries, said the anglers were technically always required to be licensed and that they are not happy about being held to it now.
“There is an existing RSA that requires a guide’s license, if you guide people for the taking of fish and game,” White said. “It was never implemented on the coast because in salt water, you need a Coast Guard captain’s license, and those requirements are much more intensive. During the last Legislature the commission asked the Attorney General if it should be enforced. The AG said the spirit of the law would include the coast. So, the commission asked the Director to fulfill the requirements. The intention is to wrap the guide’s licence into the salt water license.”
White said the captains are upset because inland guides have to pass a department exam but it’s nothing like the Coast Guard requirements.
“A number of captains have said why not have the inland guides required to meet the Coast Guard standards, including mandatory drug testing, a physical, keeping their license updated and a lot of safety and navigation questions,” White said. “I support the department implementing the law already in place, but I think people that have a Coast Guard captain’s license should be grandfathered into the program.”
The meeting will also discuss allowable catch limits and accountability measures.
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This is but one of the 25 new taxes imposed by the Lynch administration and his Democrat legislature.