Tag Archives: commercial fishing licenses
Commentary: Spread the blame for proposed license change
Jerry Schill, Director of Government Relations for the North Carolina Fisheries Association, offers a response to Russ Lay’s commentary “CCA, GOP to blame for proposed license change”>click to read< on the proposed changes to eligibility rules for commercial fishing licenses in North Carolina. Back in December 2016, the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission sent a letter under the signature of Chairman Sammy Corbett to every member of the General Assembly requesting that they take a look at changes for commercial fishing licenses. >Click here to read the letter< To my knowledge, not one member of the General Assembly made any effort in 2017 to act on the MFC’s request. So where’s the boogeyman here, either Republican or Democrat? >click to read< 20:10
New York DEC Will Talk About Licensing With Commercial Fishermen This Fall
State lawmakers said this week that they have persuaded the State Department of Environmental Conservation to meet with commercial fishermen to talk about expanding how many new commercial fishing licenses are issued. The DEC has agreed to meet with fishermen this fall to discuss revising the state’s policy on the transfer of licenses from one fisherman to another, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. said this week. The agreement comes on the heels of lawmakers derailing a DEC request for a new three-year extension to existing commercial licensing guidelines, instead granting only a one-year extension contingent on DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos and other agency officials meeting with fishermen to talk about the policy. click here to read the story 21:57
Maine Department of Marine Resources wants to raise the price of commercial fishing licenses
If approved by the Legislature, the proposed fee increases would range from as little as $1 for a Maine resident to harvest green crabs to as much as $114 for a lobsterman with two sternmen. Under the new fee schedule, which would take effect January 2018, the cost of securing a Class III lobster license would top $1,000 for the first time, hitting $1,002. The fee hike would enable the Department of Marine Resources to hire an additional lobster biologist, outfit its science staff with field technology and pay for Marine Patrol officer raises and ballistics vests, among other things, without increasing the department’s $21.3 million bottom line, department spokesman Jeff Nichols said. Read the story here 08:36
California’s higher fees for out of state commercial fishing licenses upheld
California’s nonresident fee differential for four commercial fishing licenses, vessel registration and permits is constitutional, the U.S. 9th District Court of Appeals says. A certified class of nonresident commercial fishers challenges the fee differentials under the Privileges and Immunities Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. “We hold that California’s fee differentials do not violate either clause,” says the majority opinion, written by Judge William Fletcher. California’s higher fees for out of state commercial fishing vessel registrations, fishing licenses, Dungeness crab permits, and herring gill net permits were less than the amount by which California subsidized the management of the nonresidents’ portions of its commercial fishery, the court says, thus being within the Privileges and Immunities Clause challenge because the differentials were justified by a substantial reason that was closely related to the differential fees. Read the rest here 08:51
Court taking another look at higher commercial fishing fees for nonresidents
The state will get another chance to defend its former practice of charging nonresidents two to three times as much as Californians for commercial fishing licenses. A panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled 2-1 in September that the California laws discriminated unconstitutionally against nonresidents by making it harder for them to pursue their occupation. But on Friday, the court said a majority of its judges had granted the state’s request to refer the case to an 11-judge panel for a new hearing. Read the rest here 20:42
Flounder and semantics heat up fisheries meeting, just “who” is a commercial fisherman?”
Before state officials decide how to better regulate commercial fishing licenses, they’ll have to answer an important question — “just who is a commercial fisherman?” When members of the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission met in Wrightsville Beach this week — their first meeting of 2016 — updating the state’s 17-year-old criteria for commercial fishermen was a hot topic. And it’s one that’s sure to be contentious — when Commissioner Alison Willis proposed a subcommittee to study the issue, she said she was putting her head on the chopping block. By the time her motion was worded as carefully as possible, it was a paragraph long. Read the rest here 16:14
Loophole allows illegal fishing harvests
A rowboat, kayak or inflatable raft should not classify as a licensed commercial fishing boat, say state fishery regulators. Current state laws on qualifying for certain commercial fishing licenses include a “loophole” that needs to be closed, according to a commercial fishing group and staff with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “Right now it’s far too easy to get a [restricted-species endorsement] falsely,” said Bill Kelly, executive director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association. Read the rest here 17:19
Virginia Marine Resources Commission revokes licenses over oyster violations
NEWPORT NEWS — The commercial fishing licenses of four local watermen were revoked Tuesday for numerous and repeated criminal oyster violations. Two of the watermen, , are from Gloucester. Daniel T. West is from Newport News and Kenneth W. Jenkins lives in Norfolk. Read more here 07:40
N.C. Department of Marine Fisheries increase commercial fishing licenses 100 percent
Commercial fishermen will be paying more to catch fewer fish in the future, after the N.C. Department of Marine Fisheries commission voted for a 100 percent increase in commercial fishing licenses and the elimination of a harvest season for river herring. However, a feared vote to add further limitations to spotted seatrout harvests and requirements for reduced bycatch devices of shrimp trawlers did not go through. Read [email protected] 19:19
Florida’s gift to veterans for Veterans Day – easier for Florida veterans to enter the commercial fishing industry.
The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission estimates the program will open the door to the commercial fishing industry for hundreds of veterans. http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/florida/article/281818/4/Floridas-gift-to-veterans-for-Veterans-Day
