Here in NY I pay about $50 every year for a sportsmen license.

This license allows me to hunt or fish for just about any species in the state.

I am happy to pay this fee every year because NY state law assures me that this money goes exclusively towards conserving the ecosystems I harvest my game from and towards buying up new land so that my kids and grandkids will have somewhere to hunt and fish.

As long as my money goes towards these causes, and not towards closing gaps in the general welfare budget, I will pay my $50 every fall with a smile on my face and with happy thoughts of my great grandchildren in my head.

how many hunters and anglers agree with me?

Clay-
first off, I'm pretty sure US territorial waters extend a great deal further 3 miles.

second off, are you suggesting that just because an ecosystem is a certain number of miles off shore it doesn't need any protection? It seems to me that a school of stripers a few hundred yards off shore is just as susceptible to overfishing as a school of tuna 100 miles out.

I do not live near the ocean and do not completely understand the reasons for or against saltwater licenses but I can tell you this. I have to license my boat, motor, trailer, canoe, kayak, truck, dog, buy a fishing license, buy a hunting license, I purchased out of state license this year alone for CO, AZ, WV and PA. Throw in trout stamps, national forest stamps and what ever the heck stamp I've just purchased and I'm all licensed out. I can't remember the last time I did not release a fish unharmed. Don't get me wrong. I do not mind contributing to the cause but come on. If I have to pay to fish off the beach then everyone should pay who swims in the ocean.

Just another way for big brother to put their hand in your pocket

Many fresh water anglers probabaly will never wet a line in saltwater.There is no reason an angler that fishes his entire life on freshwater should bear the burden for salt water anglers.

As long as the fee/tax gets placed towards salt water expenditures, and resources and is alloted mostly for salt water anglers then I see no reason to resist the license.

What gets my goat, is the fee one has to pay to park/launch a boat in National Parks or State owned property.

Be forewarned;there will many more fees/taxes that local governments will try to unload on the public at large,hence,the sin tax.

I don't think you should need a saltwater license. There's something about the ocean that feels like anybody should be able to wet a line there without answering to anyone. I'm for more money going into preserving/maintaining the areas we fish, and governing the regulations. But I don't think anyone should need a piece of paper to cast a plug from a beach. I'd rather see the money come from someplace else.

In reality and not theory, conservation is crucial and pricey. I am in favor of a saltwater license. Just make it simple and affordable.

joe is right. in new jersey i am almost positive that it would end up b eing a seperate licesne from the freshwater license and just like the license fees and everything else it would be a money maker for the state. the license is a good idea on paper but the aplication would just be more money donations to the state. last year in order to buy a shotgun, freshwater fishing, and bowhunting license, rifle permit, muzzleloader license, and 4 total zone permits (since in nj you have to buy a license and then buy a permit for the zone to hunt in) it cost me over $200 to hunt and fish in my own state. it cost me half that much to hunt in maine for 2 weeks. and you can't tell me all that is going into restocking or habitat because you dont see wild birds hardly at all anymore.

To Mr. Cermele: I thought it was 12 miles off all our "coasts".
I liked the "one price for fresh/salt" if it's kept REASONABLE !.

It's a gigantic crock of you know what. The fees won't help anything other than discourage the honest hard working angler from pursuing something that would be relaxing and pleasurable. And to think that it's going to apply to everyone...nope. Go out on a charter boat, which doesn't need to be licensed, and you don't need a license. Commercial fishermen get a pass, they pay for a commercial license, and get to kill as much bi-catch as possible. But the Surf Fisherman, and the Sportsman who goes out one to two days a month / year, gets another TAX (it's claimed to be a fee, but let's be realistic) so that they can do what was free for thousands of years. I've never seen fish killed by the thousands a day by recreational fishermen, but it's the normal for the commercial fisherman. Yet everyone points to the recreational fisherman as the source of the problem, instead of pulling their heads out of the sand and actually looking at the problem head on.

I'm buying my license to fish several times over here in Taxachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and any other state I visit that I plan to fish. But to have to buy a second license for each state just because I want to fish from shore of the state I am in at the time is another sign of Governmental Extortion.

In Alabama you have to have a saltwater lic.all the way to the to the head of the bay which includes several fresh water rivers .This license has increased up to around thirty bucks.What am i getting in return where are the boat ramps and fish hatcheries etc.
Alabamaoutlaw