Monday, October 17, 2011

Coffee Talk...

I'll give you a topic:

Last night, I went out for an hour and a half to try and catch a dinner. Mama Holman, did you hear that? I went for the specific purpose of bringing fish back for dinner. Just so you know, I typically let all the fish go. Mostly because it is work to clean them and I have plenty of food in the fridge.

This isn't a post about my thoughts on catch and release. This is a post about license fees. Since Labor Day, I have noticed a lot of commercial fisherman placing gill nets off shore, and last night, there was a 300 foot net about 50-100 feet in front of the jetty I was fishing. Now I don't know all the rules about how close you can be to jetties and site specific regulations, but it seemed pretty close to me. Therefore, I looked up the regulations this morning. It turns out, it may be too close (I read something about no closer than 300ft to a bridge or jetty), but that wasn't what got me thinking.

I pay $17.50 for a saltwater license as a resident of the state of Virginia.


A Virginia resident commercial license is $190. The license fee for one reccreational, 300ft gill net is $9.00 and $24 for one commercial gill net between 600-1200ft. 



I am supportive of responsible commercial fishing, just as I am in favor of responsible farming for corn or cattle or watermelons. I was simply interested in the prices of commercial vs recreational licenses. Is $190 + $24.00 a fair price to be able to harvest fish with a gill net? Given the relative pressure that a commercial fisherman can place on fish populations versus a single recreational fisherman, is that cost an appropriate proportional increase?

local net fisherman pulling up the catch
Okay, don't get verklempt.  Talk amongst yourselves...


_______________________________________________________________


Oh, and did you hear? OBN's B-day this week. Lots of opportunities to win outdoor gear to review. 
Head on over and see what happens. 

4 comments:

  1. Wow, those commercial licenses are way too cheap in my opinion. Do you know if the local fishermen get state subsidies? That would top things off...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was also a bit surprised by that cost. good question about subsidies? I have no idea. I'll see what mr google can tell me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Those fees do sound a bit low. I think in some states a guide license can cost that much, and it doesn't really entitle you to keep any more than a regular license... they just figure if you make your living off the fish then they should tax you for it.
    I think anyone who profits on natural resources should pay an appropriate tax (and in most cases I think they do), but the VA commercial license seems a bit lenient.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jay - There may even be fees I don't know about. Taxes and such. But income taxes and equipment fees (boats, nets, etc) wouldn't be directed at resource management. And I guess that is my point. I feel like the justification of our recreational license fees is often the funding of resource management; I just think it should be proportionately increased based on use.

    good to hear from you.

    ReplyDelete