For salwater fishing in the northeast for 2010 you needed to register with the NOAA. It was a simple form you could do online and you print out your temp registration and your card came in the mail. Last year it was stated - on the MA Div of Marine Fisheries, anyway - that by registering with the NOAA you can saltwater fish in any state as long as you have you registration card. They also stated that fees would be $10.00 for 2011 and, again, as long as you are registered you can fish in any state.
Well guess what, you can't. Here in MA you can get you "Recreation Saltwater Fishing Permit" for $10.00 and as of February 11, 2011 you can only fish in states that have a reciprocity agreements which, for now, only includes MA, NH, RI.
The northeast states have been balking at the federal government's registration mandate for years and now it looks like they won. Now I have to get a separate "permit" to saltwater fish in ME.
I need to do a little research to see if I can just register with the NOAA and make it an all encompassing, like the original laws were established. If anyone has any insight on this, please post it here.
I know what happened and why and I guess I can't blame the 3 states as mentioned above for doing this.
