Thursday, June 12, 2008
Something's Fishy
By Joshua F. Moore
It’s been a while since something really grabbed me by the shorts, but the news that the feds are considering charging average Joes to fish in the Atlantic Ocean really put the frost on my herring. Apparently the folks in Washington believe that the impact that recreational fishermen are having on the fish stocks along the East Coast is so great that they need to measure it down to the smallest mackerel. To calculate casual fishermen’s catch requires, of course, a license that will cost me up to $25. Sure, I’ve been known to tell a few fish stories in my life, but now it seems our fearless leaders are taking my tales from the high seas a bit too literally. Does someone really believe that the eighteen-inch striper that I might be lucky enough to catch off Popham is really going to have an impact on the fisheries of the Gulf of Maine? Never mind that one of the draggers that leaves from New Bedford and Gloucester (alas, there aren’t many leaving from Maine anymore) catches more fish in a single square foot of net than I do in a decade of flogging the water.
Something about this whole proposal smells fishy. If the goal is truly just to measure how many fish recreational fishermen are catching, why the need for an expensive license? I remain unconvinced of the need for such a study, but if someone can prove its worth to me then I would suggest the license’s fee be lowered — to zero. Even the feds will have a hard time justifying the new fee, as legislative rules require that the money be plopped right into the U.S. Treasury, instead of at least using it to research the fish we’re supposed to be concerned with protecting. You do the math: The money you and I would pay to catch flounder could soon enough be used to water-board some sap in Guantanamo.
Sixteen of the country’s coastal states already have a saltwater fishing registration program, but all of the New England states have thus far refused to implement one. So in an increasingly smarmy bit of strong-arming, the feds are now proposing that states with their own saltwater fishing licenses be exempt from the federal rule and thus able to keep their fees for themselves. This has led some Maine legislators to imply that the federal regulations are inevitable, but that’s just the type of rolling over by our elected officials that’s gotten us into a heap of trouble in the past couple of years. It’s also not true: The fisheries service is accepting comments until August 11. If you think these kinds of rules miss their mark worse than most of my casts, then send them an e-mail and tell them so. (Even better, ring up your state and federal legislators and talk to them personally.)
Trying to justify a new fee on Maine fishermen requires a fish story that even I wouldn’t try to pass off.
— JOSHUA F. MOORE
Deputy Editor, Loser of fish both large and small
Deputy Editor, Loser of fish both large and small
Posted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 in Permalink
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