Saltwater fishing license……Why or why not?

[Gunpowder]

Originally Posted by eagerangler

The stripper population is starting to make a serious come back...

i wish strippers were making a comeback

[Tagger]

No ... Get Your Hand Out of My Pocket !!!! You get paid .. you pay taxes ,, state, fed ,,That should be it .. But No ... you keep paying with that same money getting taxed over and over again..sales ,excise,luxury... How far can you strech your pay check, paying taxes infinite amount of times with the same money . Did I say gas ? I would like to know for real, what a person ends up paying in taxes per income ... Then there's fee's .. I'm bent over all the time . Saltwater fishing is my only relief .. We going to get 100% access ?

[Forester]

I don't post often actually ever but I do feel strongly about this topic so here is my two cents worth:
Surf fishing in my opinion is the last, best, "free" activity that we have available to us. That said, I agree that pressure will continue to be applied to implement some sort of SW license along the whole coast. Now some would say what's 20 bucks a year to fish...., I agree but consider this. I fish with my wife and we fish in Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and will probably try Maine, New Hampshire and New York. If each state has a license and it costs $20 and there are two of us (8 states * $20 * 2 family members = $320) it starts to add up. That's just the first year. As the years go by license fees will go up and $320 becomes $640 or more. Check out the license fee increases in your own state or the increases in the Chesapeake Bay license. All of a sudden my last best "free" activity is becoming quite expensive and that's without equipment costs, beach permits, gas costs etc. So if we believe that SW licenses are going to be a reality, then let's work together on a proposal to implement SW licenses that would benefit state programs and not hurt anglers too much. Some things that might be considered: Reasonable license fees that cannot be increased by more than a certain percentage over a certain number of years, Reciprocal agreements among states from Maine to North Carolina.
You could buy your license in any of those states and the revenues would be tied to the state where the license was bought, and license fees could only be used on programs that improve access and enhance saltwater fishing opportunities

[macojoe]

That was said on the radio today, the aravger person works from Jan 1 till end of April just for all the taxes they pay!! So 4 months pay is just for tax the rest is yours.

Right or wrong?

Thats 1/3 rd your anual pay

[5/0]

Originally Posted by macojoe

That was said on the radio today, the aravger person works from Jan 1 till end of April just for all the taxes they pay!! So 4 months pay is just for tax the rest is yours.

Right or wrong?

Thats 1/3 rd your anual pay

This is 100% true........just like the average person sleeps 1/3 of there life.

[RIJIMMY]

Originally Posted by 5/0

This is 100% true........just like the average person sleeps 1/3 of there life.

so...if I could get paid for sleeping, all the money I'd make at work I can keep!

[wheresmy50]

Originally Posted by Mike P

That's the biggest benefit to a license, and the one that 90% of the people don't realize

I completely disagree that somehow licensing is going to make people realize how important saltwater surf fishermen are and we'll start getting more access (or whatever). No one cares about our pennies. They care about the influence of wealthy property owners.

Hunters pay for licenses and get treated like child molesters. If freshwater fishermen get anything, it's because of stocking and the gillions of dollars they spend on tackle. Also, anyone who thinks there's going to be one license in a state for fresh and salt or reciprocity has a lot more confidence in government than I do. They're going to have a separate license or a stamp, and each state will have their own. Then in a few years you'll need a separate striper stamp, then a fluke stamp, bonito stamp, albacore stamp, crab stamp, etc, etc, etc.

[Clogston29]

if there has to be one, i'd like to see a federal license. one that will apply to any state. the feds could divide the money derived from the licenses up between the states, based on the number of people living in each state that purchased a license.

if there is going to be one, I want to see some damn enforcement too. If I'm paying $x.xx for the right to fish for a year, its gonna piss me off when I'm walking out at dawn and see a bunch of guys fishing without licenses, knowing that they'll never get caught.

[2boxers]

Originally Posted by Backbeach Jake

My questions are "How Much?"
20-25 bucks, well that's ok by me, if they're asking for 100, that's another story. What will the fine for non-compliance be? Equal or greater than a license? I think it should be. I also think that one license should cover all US shores. We're already paying 10% on our gear, where does that go?

it may start at 20 but it will go up MA LTC used to be like 25 now it is 100

[5/0]

Originally Posted by RIJIMMY

so...if I could get paid for sleeping, all the money I'd make at work I can keep!

Your lucky you don't get taxed while you sleep