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STATE HOUSE

Saltwater anglers will need to register

By Ethan Wilensky-Lanford ewlanford@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

Anyone fishing in saltwater off the Maine coast will soon need to register with the government, now that a long-debated bill has been approved via roll call votes in the House and Senate.

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Those who buy a freshwater fishing license will be able to register to fish in saltwater for no additional cost. Those who wish to fish only in saltwater -- or below the head of tide on rivers -- which, on the Kennebec River, is near Augusta -- will need to register separately.

Registration will be free for residents and nonresidents, though clerks can charge a processing fee of up to $2.

Fishing for striped bass will require an additional endorsement, which state residents can purchase for $5 annually. Out-of-state residents must pay $15.

There are a number of exceptions.

Children younger than 17 won't need to register or get an endorsement, nor will people with a disability. Seniors older than 70 can pay $10 for a lifetime striped-bass endorsement. Even out-of-state residents can fish for mackerel and smelt for just the cost of the clerk's fee.

The bill, L.D. 1432, batted around between the House and Senate and back to the Marine Resources Committee and became largely a partisan issue.

Democrats, led by Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Trenton, and Rep. Leila Percy, D-Phippsburg, chairman and chairwoman of the Marine Resources Committee, said the registry was necessary because of a federal mandate, and that it was necessary to charge for it.

Sen. David Trahan, R-Waldoboro, who introduced the original bill, said there was federal money available the state could have used to start the registry.

Only two House Republicans voted for the bill, with many resisting what they saw as a measure that would give more power to the government and put an unnecessary barrier between people who wanted to fish and their freedom.

"The biggest issue is the loss of the freedom to fish in saltwaters," said Jon McKane, R-Newcastle, after a lengthy debate on the House floor. "You still have to go to the Town Office or go online instead of just going fishing. It makes a big difference."

Republicans tried to kill the bill on a technicality, claiming that the Maine Constitution bans the Senate from raising revenue.

"Bills that raise revenues are required to originate in the House," said House Republican Leader Rep. Joshua Tardy, R-Newport.

The bill, which originated in the Senate, arose to assist the federal government study fish populations and manage the resource, Damon said.

Before it passed, Maine and New Jersey were the only states on the Eastern Seaboard without saltwater fishing registries -- and New Jersey has a bill pending.

Federal authorities have said they would begin charging saltwater fishers to register with the federal government in 2011 if they were not already registered with a state.

If L.D. 1432 didn't pass, "all these other states' residents would be able to come to Maine and fish for free," Percy said in an interview, "but Maine residents would have to pay. And they'd have to pay the same amount to fish here as somebody from Indiana."

McKane said anybody who thinks that the cost to sign on to the registry will stay low hasn't been watching state government.

"At one point, you could get a combination hunting and fishing license for 50 cents," he said.

George Smith, executive director of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine, said the outcome could have been worse.

"I'm 80 percent happy," he said. "The most unfortunate part of it is that it sticks it to nonresidents."

One argument by supporters of the bill was that money that's collected will stay in Maine, rather than be collected by the federal government.

Smith and Rep. Edward Legg, D-Kennebunk, said the idea that the money collected will increase the declining striped bass populations is a myth, because of commercial overfishing elsewhere and pollution in their traditional spawning grounds in the Chesapeake Bay.

"By the time they get here, they've already run a terrible gauntlet," Legg said. "That's why I've always viewed it plain and simple as a tax."

Ethan Wilensky-Lanford -- 620-7016

ewlanford@mainetoday.com