A new fee to fish

GULF COAST, FL - Florida’s landlubber anglers soon must pay for the privilege of wetting a line.

Come Aug. 1, state residents who fish from the shore or from bridges, docks and piers will be required to ante up $9 for a shoreline fishing license, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has announced.

The Legislature approved the fee this year. By implement the fees, Florida avoided being placed on a "federal angler registration" list that FWC officials said would have been more expensive than the shoreline licenses.

At the Shalimar Bridge on Wednesday, fishermen spoke rather philosophically about the pending license requirement.

"I don’t mind," said Fort Walton Beach resident Gene Hammons. "It helps the economy and it’s good for the state. I think it’s a good deal."

Ray Farr, who recently moved to DeFuniak Springs, had already paid a $47 non-resident fee for the right to fish. He said he’s looking forward to only having to come up with $9.

An alternative to a shoreline license would be a $17 "regular" saltwater fishing license, a news release announcing the new fee said.

Henry Cabbage, a spokesman for the FWC, said the agency will encourage fishermen to obtain the $17 licenses.

"Then if your buddy invites you out on his boat to go fishing, you don’t have to buy another license," he said.

The decision to force shoreline fishermen to buy licenses began with the federal government’s desire to keep track of the number of people who fish from land and what they take from the water.

"The feds need some mechanism to get a handle on the number of people fishing and how much resource they’re taking," Cabbage said.

State Sen. Don Gaetz, who opposed the legislation, said the FWC shouldn’t be held altogether blameless for the fees.

"You can’t blame the feds entirely, it’s also a move on the part of state bureaucrats to use this as a revenue source," said Gaetz, R-Niceville.

Gaetz said he opposed the measure when it came up in the Senate because he sees the license requirement — charging people for fishing from their backyard dock — as "overreaching" on the government’s part.

Cabbage said he didn’t anticipate the FWCC sending "SWAT teams" out to enforce the new regulation.

Gaetz said he, along with state Sen. Durell Peaden of Crestview and another senator, formed a "cane pole caucus" during debate on the license requirement. He said the three-member caucus succeeding in obtaining some exemptions to the fees.

The shoreline requirement, according to the news release, allows exemptions to residents who fish "in their home county, using live or natural bait, on a line or pole without a line-retrieval mechanism."

Other exemptions include those for fishermen who qualify for temporary cash assistance, food stamps or Medicaid, the release said.

Anglers over the age of 65 or under 16 can fish without the shoreline license, as can active-duty military personnel who are home on leave, the release said.

Licensed fishing pier operators also can buy licenses to cover everyone who fishes from their pier, according to the FWC.

Cabbage said the FWC tried to estimate the number of Florida fishermen who will be affected by the new fees, but hadn’t reached any reliable conclusions.

"We did put together some numbers nobody has much confidence in," he said.