I am an anti-fishing-permit kind of guy unless it is for a good reason. So far i have been purchasing the HMS permit for tuna every year. I still don't understand what they are doing with this money except issuing permits online. Few anglers I know have actually reported their catches so the data they collect has to be very spotty. Moreover most of the anglers don't even have permits. The overseas issues (non-US tuna fishing) is in no way connected to these regs. From stuff I have read, the size and numbers of the tiny fish they take are insane.

This year they raised the minimum limit to 47" as a keeper for rec's. I don't know about you but must of the fish I landed were smaller then that. I think I got one or two that exceeded that for the season.

"The current (throught May 31, 2006)recreational daily BFT retention limit for vessels permitted in the HMS Angling and HMS Charter/Headboat categories is 1 BFT/vessel/day/trip, measuring 47 to less than 73" CFL. Stay tuned for daily retention limits beyond June 1, 2006"

With $4.00/gal fuel looming and 47" keeper as the rules for 06, I may pass on the permit and just fish naked the few trips I make. I know it is only 22 bucks but hey, that is 5 gals of gas! It is mainly a catch and release fishery anyway for me but I like take home a couple for the grill in the summer. But this is getting out of hand. If the species is truley highly migratory, accross boarders you need to establish rules on a larger regional basis. I was hoping the fee woulf pay for committees to work with other fishery depts of other countries but I never hear about this and clearly no progress seems to be happening.


Does anyone hear about what the rules will be for this summer? I will wait. If they move it back to 27 I will buy the lic if they keep it at 47 I will fish for them without one.:devil: and take my chances.:devil:

I just renewed my Lic. this morning . Not that I plan to do much fishing for tuna / sharks , but as I understand it if I'm bluefishing and happen to take a tuna I'm screwed. I'm not willing to lose my boat for a $22 fee .

Not that I agree with any saltwater Lic. This weeks Fisherman Mag. had a good atticleon Salt water Lic.

There is no way they can enforce you losing your boat on an incidental catch that is released.

If so that would mean ***everyone*** must have this HMS permit to fish for anything and thus this is a sw fishing lic.

I hope they make it at 27" and a 3 fish per boat limit but I bet that stands about as much of a shot as buying fuel for a buck this summer.

Mr Sandman,
You are correct, most of the tuna we got last year were small ones.
Yes we did get more then past years but they were small.

I have bought my striped license for many years and this year I did not because the price went up to 65.00 and I have not sold a stripa in years so it was a wast of money for me. Plus the cost of gas has gone up up and away!
VB

They were out there boarding boats off Newport last year.

They will DEFINITELY be watching closely again this year as it's fairly obvious there was a lot of abuse last year with many boats fishing without permits.

I have always bought a permit and reported most of my fish, and this was back in the day before inshore tuna was a normal thing.

The reporting also helps with enforcement, they can track where the fish are and focus their efforts.

There is no way they can enforce you losing your boat on an incidental catch that is released.



If it is an incidental catch then it's perfectly legal.

Sandy,
1st of all the $22 just coveres the cost of issuing the license, there ain't no money left over to use on anything else. 2nd, last year lots of boats in RI were cited for not having the license and the usual fine was $1,000, though some got hit with $5,000. 3rd, if the yellows come close, like they sometimes do, you'll need the license for them anyway.