On December 23^rd 2008, NOAA Fisheries released a final rule to comply with new provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The final rule requires anglers and spearfishers who fish recreationally in federal ocean waters to be included in the national saltwater angler registry by January 1, 2010. NOAA had originally proposed that registration be required beginning January 1, 2009, but based on public input decided to give states another year to put in place their own data collection systems.

• "NOAA to Create Saltwater Angler Registry in 2010" - NOAA News
• Saltwater Angler Registry Final Rule - NOAA Fisheries

Why?

The Magnuson-Stevens Act Reauthorization of 2006 requires all U.S. saltwater recreational anglers to be registered federally (or through a state) by 2009. The new federal law is aimed at improving collection and accuracy of marine recreational fishery statistics. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is working aggressively with cooperating states to implement this federal program, which will be free in 2009 and 2010, but NMFS plans to charge an annual administrative fee of about $15 - $25 per individual beginning in 2011.

Who?

Although the federal law requires that NMFS implement and administer a federal registry, many states are opting to develop their own licensing programs. If the Commonwealth is pre-empted by NMFS in licensing saltwater recreational fishermen, that would lead to:

• Federal license revenue would be directed to the U.S. Treasury and would not be used for fishery programs;
• User costs imply user benefits, but a federal fee will not create local benefits; and
• Without state involvement, a federal program will result in an incomplete and biased database, thus circumventing the entire purpose of a registry to provide improved statistics.

The Commonwealth is better situated than the federal government to administer a registry program and provide user benefits to our local fisheries for less money. Being able to control costs to anglers, develop specific program benefits, and eliminate questions over jurisdiction and authority are strong incentives that are driving our willingness to discuss state participation in a registry.

The Commonwealth has formed a Recreational Registry Steering Committee to provide input on alternative strategies to implementation of a National Saltwater Angler Registry in Massachusetts waters. Key representatives from various sectors of the Commonwealth’s marine recreational fishery have been invited to be part of this new committee:

At the first meeting of the Recreational Registry Steering Committee held on June 19th in Falmouth, the Committee unanimously supported exploration of a state licensing program by the Division of Marine Fisheries (MarineFisheries).

Massachusetts Saltwater Recreational Fishery

Massachusetts is long-famous for record-size striped bass and currently has the largest and most successful recreational striped bass fishery in the country. This single resource is the backbone of our marine recreational fishing industry. Aside from stripers, our state offers diversity throughout its 1,800 mile coastline. In past years, as many as 70 different species of fish have been identified in our recreational catch, including record catches of giant bluefin tuna, flounder, cod, bluefish, tautog and scup.

The total economic activity generated by the Commonwealth’s marine recreational fishing industry is enormous, reaching in the area of $1 billion annually. This economy is driven by high participation levels. About 1-million anglers each year take to our marine waters to fish, with over 40% composed of visitors from other states and countries.

• Newsletter Article about the size of the MA saltwater recreational fishery
• MarineFisheries Fish Responsibly Page

Recreational Registry Steering Committee

* Steering Committee Chairman