Controversial saltwater fishermen registry delayed a year

This is typical governemnt garbage.... I fish both fresh and saltwater and I actually am 100% ok with paying for a state license because it is mandated that those funds go to the preservation of wildlife and stocking of fish and so on... but to have to pay to fish saltwater??? come on... try and catch me... will not happen

What do you think we pay our taxes here for? This is just another BS tax that gets spent foolishly for their bloated salaries. They say it will be used to manage fish species...I highly doubt that when you look at their track record thus far...it's deplorable and a disaster.
I've been fishing Striped Bass for over 25 years, same with my father and grandfather...paying for a foolish permit is not going to make the fishing better. It's outrageous to need a permit to fish at the beach or dock..what happened to land of the free?? These people have their heads up their a$$ and probably have never fished in thier life. Time to repeal these foolish taxes and vote the cronies out.

I will never get a licnese for salt water fishing. I have fished on Long Island since I was born, have run commercial fishing boats and now stand on the end of of the dock with my grandson to fish. There will nevr be a day that I need a a license to wet a hook.

If I purchase a fresh water license it pays for stocking the fresh water supply of fish. If I buy a salt water license what do I get for my money? Nothing. I would have to pay 25 dollars to take 1 to 5 fish per year? All the while commercial trollers and foreign boats are rapping the oceans clean? Why does the federal govt. always have to come down against the sport fisherman?

More money??? Let me get this straight...700 billion in bailout money for the rich goons that have fleeced this country and will no doubt do it again but another increased expense for the already strapped everyday Joe who just wants to do some fishing with his kid on Sundays. Seriously, I work Monday through Saturday and every damn dollar I make they take their peice. Now they want a piece of my Sundays too. I'll pay it, but I wouldn't want to be the fish cop that asks me for it, he's gonna get an ear full.....

The remarkable recovery of the striped bass along the northeast coast took place without a recreational license requirement. The vast majority of recreational fishermen VOLUNTARILY complied with length and # limits on their catches for this to happen. I would gladly log on to a website to report my catch each time I fish, but I have absolutely no intention of complying with this arbitrary law, especially since I fish 99.9% catch-and-release. That's a couple hundred stripers that won't get counted.

Enforcement in this will never happen, as it is a minor federal rule. No incentive for local cops and other town and state officials to bend over backwards regulating, making an old man who is fishing with his grandson on the dock once a week pay the money.

As a lifelong hunter/fisherman, both freshwater and saltwater, I have to say I am disappointed in some of the above comments. Almost every cent that is received by state and federal wildlife management agencies is a result of your license fees. I was always taught that it was a matter of honor to have your paperwork in order at the beginning of each year, that the purchase of a fishing license was something of which to be proud.
My wife is a wildlife officer with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Hopefully Chris runs into her one of these days if he ever decides to try a little high mountain trout fishing. In the history of the state of Colorado, not one person has EVER been allowed a complimentary license. Not even the president of the United States. He might have a mouthful for her, or one of the other men and women ("fish cops") who protect big game and big fish from poachers so that honest sportsmen can catch them, but rest assured, in the end, you will be leaving with a ticket.
Come off it. This isn't the 18th century anymore. To see success like we had with Striped Bass takes money and regional cooperation. Your income tax dollars might go toward banks, but rest assured that your hunting and fishing dollars go towards protecting game and fish (and habitat too).

Hey Leo, after the "salt police" get their new 27' Gradys, they'll be out cruising in their new toys.

We want “to do good surveys and understand how much fish are actually being fished and how,” said Monica Allen, a spokeswoman for NOAA

Come on Lucky Marbles this is a b.s. law. Do you really think that a license is going to help Joe Blow remember how many fish he caught after he drinks 15 Budweisers and spent all day in the sun?

The striped bass success story already happened without a license in 7 of the most significant states. You can't just make an assertion that it requires money after the fact without backing it up. Regional cooperation doesn't have to cost anything. In fact I doubt there was much cooperation between states with the stripers, size and catch limits vary widely in the 5 New England states that have stripers. Follow the money trail. A license fee goes to jobs (cronies in MA) as well as infrastructure, boats, vehicles, etc. It ain't about the fish. It sounds like you are trying to justify your wife's job. Without licenses there's no poaching, and we've already proven we can cooperate voluntarily. There's no compelling reason for the fees if they just want to track fish.

If nobody pays, it will die. We all have to stick together on this insane TAX which is all it is. The Gov. of Va. recently took 1 millon $ from the salt water license and put it into the general fund. Don't get suckerd in guys.

This is all the fault of the UN. We are doing this to fund them.

Salt water license is crazy, if its a state by state hting than here inRI most guys will have to buy three since we fish in CT and MA to. I spend a lot of time on the water in a boat and surf casting from the shore, I see a few people taking undersized fish of all kinds and have call our enforcement people on it and have always been told they are to busy or they dont have an officer in the area to take care of the problem but thanks for the call. No more enforcement will come from this and only the honest fisherman who follow the rules now will get hurt by having to buy these. Maybe some common sence size and catch limits is the place to start, along with better enforcement of the rules we have now. Then maybe people would not be so against the idea of a licence in the future.