DEM ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF NEW RECREATIONAL SALTWATER FISHING LICENSE
Also Available: New Electronic Recreational Saltwater Fishing Logbook
PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s new Recreational Saltwater Fishing License is now available. The license is available via a simple, user-friendly website: www.saltwater.ri.gov.
The cost of the license is $7 per year for RI residents and $10 per year for non-residents. There is also a temporary 7-day license available for $5. The license is free for anglers who are over 65 years of age and for active military personnel who are stationed in Rhode Island.
No license is required for anglers under 16 years of age, for anglers fishing on licensed party and charter boats, for anglers who are on leave from active military duty, and for anglers who are blind or permanently disabled. A full description of all exemption categories is available on the license website.
Rhode Island’s new license program gives recreational saltwater anglers – and recreational spearfishers, who are also covered -- the option of obtaining a relatively inexpensive state license, in lieu of a federal registration. The RI license enables the holder to fish legally not only in all RI marine waters, but also in all federal waters and all state marine waters throughout southern New England (as well as in all other reciprocal state marine waters throughout the U.S.). The federal registration does not cover fishing activities in neighboring state marine waters, including Connecticut and New York. The federal registration, available at www.countmyfish.noaa.gov, is free for 2010, but is expected to cost as much as $25 in 2011 and thereafter. Rhode Island does honor the federal registration, as well as licenses issued by reciprocal states, so anglers fishing in RI marine waters are covered if they have a RI license, or a license from a reciprocal state (such as Connecticut or New York), or a federal registration.
The RI license is currently only available via the saltwater.ri.gov website. The license will also be available at participating vendors, such as bait and tackle shops, by June 1st of this year.
The new RI license program is a complement to the new federal registry and the license programs that are in place, or pending adoption, in all other coastal states throughout the U.S.
The programs are designed to improve the quality of marine recreational fishing data. In turn, the improved data will help to ensure that recreational fishing regulations are fair, effective, and based on sound science. All RI license information, as well as that collected by National Marine Fisheries Service and other states, will be incorporated into a national “phone book” of recreational anglers, enabling the new Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) to readily survey current fishermen and more accurately assess recreational catch and effort data. Additionally, the new license and registry programs will provide the first full accounting of the scope of recreational saltwater fishing in Rhode Island, and throughout the U.S., and will thereby help to more fully demonstrate anglers’ economic, conservation, and marine stewardship contributions.
All Rhode Island saltwater license fees will be deposited in a restricted receipt account, managed by DEM. In accordance with the state law governing the license program, the license fee revenues can only be used to administer and enforce the license program, improve the management of Rhode Island’s marine recreational fisheries, and enhance recreational fishing access opportunities in the State. The license fee revenues cannot be used for any purpose that is unrelated to marine recreational fishing in Rhode Island.
Complete coverage of all issues pertaining to the new Rhode Island license is provided on the saltwater.ri.gov website.
Also available: New Electronic Recreational Saltwater Fishing Logbook
In conjunction with the release of the new Rhode Island recreational license, DEM’s Marine Fisheries Program, in conjunction with the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program, has also developed – and is now making available – a voluntary electronic recreational saltwater fishing logbook, known as “eREC.” Anyone who wishes to participate in the program is welcome to do so, on a voluntary basis.
The program enables anglers to contribute to more accurate assessments of recreational species while simultaneously maintaining a personalized electronic record of their recreational fishing activities. The information collected through the program will better enable Rhode Island fisheries scientists and managers to either corroborate or counter state-specific fisheries information from other sources, and thus better enable DEM to develop recreational measures for Rhode Island that are based on accurate catch and effort data. The information collected from participants in the logbook program will be kept confidential and will only be used by DEM to improve finfish stock assessments in Rhode Island. As a benefit to the angler, the logbook provides cumulative summaries of information on all species caught by the angler, organized by date, numbers and size of fish, etc. The information is presented in graphical and tabular formats, enabling the angler to see his/her own catch histories in real time. For more information on the program, and to sign up, go to www.saltwater.ri.gov .
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