Quote:
Originally Posted by puppet
I know that it is traditional for a marine license to be free or near
free, but I would gladly pay $50 or more for a license if it meant the fishery would have better enforcement.
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I agree puppet. The SW license is so much more than “giving us the privilege” to fish. And we saw that with this issue on striped bass management options. I’ve always been a proponent of a license because I knew it would give recreational fishermen the legitimate designation as a “voting constituency”. This to me is the MOST IMPORTANT BENEFIT of being licensed. If commercial and business directed fisheries have to pay for a license – so should we. They always had the political clout because they could show they paid for it – now we have some of that clout. SW recreational fishermen were never a constituency because our numbers were always estimated. But now with licensing we are a force with a voice in every issue that matters to us. Fisheries managers work for the tax payer, we licensed fishermen pay their salaries. They work for us, albeit indirectly.
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