License to lure

The NOAA is poised to act as "sort of the hammer" to push Florida and several other states to help it create a national registry of recreational saltwater fishermen, said Forbes Darby, the federal agency's recreational fishing coordinator.
   
Acting in accordance with a law passed in 2007, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wants to compile a comprehensive list of the nation's recreational fishermen.
   
By doing so, officials said, NOAA will obtain the kind of data it needs to determine the economic value of saltwater recreational fishing and study how such fishing affects saltwater fisheries.
   
"Every fish needs to be accounted for," Forbes said.
   
To accomplish that, Forbes said NOAA must get the names of Florida anglers who take fish from the state's shoreline, piers, docks and bridges.
   
Florida presently exempts shoreline fishermen from purchasing fishing licenses, and NOAA regards the state as one of five "having gaps" in the information it provides to the federal government about saltwater recreational fishing.
   
"We estimate 13 million of the nearly 31 million saltwater trips taken each year in Florida were shoreline trips," said NOAA spokeswoman Monica Allen. "That's a big gap."
   
The Florida Legislature exempted shoreline fishermen from licensing and would have to take action to remove the exemption. Lawmakers have through 2010 to decide.
   
If Florida hasn't come into compliance by 2011, NOAA will require fishermen to register with the agency at a cost of $20 to $25, Forbes said.
   
"We're hoping to provide an incentive so that states will require licensing," he said.
   
State Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said he sponsored legislation in 2006 that prevented the state's Department of Environmental Protection from requiring shoreline fishing licenses.
   
He said the purpose of the DEP proposal, as he saw it, was to seize control and collect fees.
   
Gaetz said he opposes forcing fees on grandfathers taking their granddaughters to the dock to fish. Likewise, he said, he hates assessing charges on people who rely on the day's catch for dinner.
   
Gaetz said he was able to persuade just enough fellow members of the Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee in 2006 to get the language blocking DEP put into a larger bill, which was passed.
   
He said he's not so sure similar legislation would survive today.
   
"Right now, people in Tallahassee are looking for ways to increase fees. If you can regulate it, it gives you the opportunity to tax it."
   
Darby said nothing federal law requires Florida or any other state to charge for licensing its shoreline fishermen.
   
Kelly Windes, a Destin city councilman and charter boat fisherman, said he supports the idea of a national registry.
   
He believes fishermen have "taken a beating" because the federal government has underestimated the health of the region's fisheries. He thinks if the true numbers are known, the area's fishing fleet would be better off.
   
"There are more fish out there than they think there is," he said. "You can make better decisions with more information."