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Congress, through the recently reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens Act, called on NOAA to take the lead in creating a national registry of saltwater anglers. This requires a tracking system for people fishing in federal waters and in state waters when fishing for anadromous species (stripers). The law does not require a license but how else do you think the states will handle it. Below is from a document trying to explain the requirement:
"Don’t most states already have a saltwater fishing license?
Many states do have some kind of fishing license for saltwater anglers. In those states, the actual requirements for who has to have a license vary from state to state. States that are currently without any saltwater fishing license include Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Hawaii and the western Pacific and Caribbean territories.
Are there any exemptions from the federal registry requirement?
Yes, Congress gave anglers who are licensed or registered by the states an exemption from the federal requirement, but only if a state can provide NOAA with certain information about anglers in their state. The Magnuson-Stevens Act says that a state can get a pass on the federal registry if 1) it already has a program to count all of its saltwater anglers (e.g. through a comprehensive saltwater fishing license) or 2) “the Secretary of Commerce determines that information from the State program is suitable for the Secretary’s use or is used to assist in completing marine recreational fisheries statistical surveys, or evaluating the effects of proposed conservation and management measures for marine recreational fisheries.” In other words, the state has to be able to either account for their anglers themselves or provide information on their fishing activity to the federal government. "
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