Saltwater fishing license……Why or why not?

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Documenting the numbers of voters involved in recreational saltwater fishing will likely have a huge ancillary benefit.

Exactly. People keep calling it "another tax" but it really isn't. Its ammunition for the recreational fishery. Its ammunition to eliminate habitat destruction and by catch in our waters too by commercial netters/draggers. It’s happened in other states like Florida and Texas already. Guess who the most outspoken opponents were to the license in those states? The commercials were due to the perceived threat (which later materialized into reality) to their livelihoods.
Bottom line is that it makes sense to support a license for our own good. What will happen is that eventually the federal registry will lead to a federal license for us. Our license dollars will go directly to the feds and never be seen again. Take this thing on a local level and keep the control on a local level with a state license. To me if you are a recreational fisherman and oppose a state license, you haven’t done your homework on the subject or you've been mislead.
Oh yeah, I'm not anti commercial, but the wrong gear usage in the wrong place at the wrong time is one of the things that needs to be addressed further. Look at our cod stocks, or what used to be cod stocks.