Article by Marty Gary
Fishing License Sales Update
Last week we shared with you a variety of items involving Maryland’s new comprehensive saltwater fishing license. We’ll continue to post updates in our weekly column to provide visitors and residents alike with the latest information.
Since last week’s update, we’ve been making great strides to solve one of the bigger issues with the rollout of the new license. And that is the availability of license sales in local bait and tackle stores. Currently, the only agent that sells fishing licenses in the Ocean City area is the Walmart on Rt. 50 in Berlin. At last week’s Coastal Fisheries Advisory Commission held at the Ocean City Marlin Club, Maryland DNR’s Information and Technology Chief Len Singel provided the encouraging news that despite a delay in the rollout of a new computer system for all licenses, a solution to the single location dilemma has been determined. DNR will be setting up local bait and tackle stores, marinas and others to sell the new saltwater fishing licenses via paper based licenses.
I would like to personally thank Capt. Skip McGuire for playing a major role in the development of this solution. Skip, along with Sue Foster and many others have been working with DNR’s staff to develop options to help work around the delay of the new license system, which will not be available until October at the earliest. Rather than vent or complain, Skip provided us with a better understanding of the challenges he and other tackle shops face along with their customers. This was critical in determining how to provide the fix to the current problem of only one licensed agent in the Ocean City area. A training session is planned for May 23rd in Ocean City for all interested vendors that would like to sell fishing licenses. Contingent upon delivery of the paper based license forms, we hope to have the new agents ready and selling licenses all around Ocean City shortly thereafter. If readers of this column have a business that would see a benefit in selling fishing licenses and are interested in becoming an official DNR agent, please contact
me via email at [email protected].
National Saltwater Angler Registry
We’ll continue to keep reminding sportfishermen that in addition to the new Maryland fishing license requirements, all anglers 16 years of age or older fishing in coastal waters of the United States need to be registered in the National Saltwater Angler Registry. If a fisherman purchases an individual Maryland Saltwater license, he/she is automatically entered into the National Saltwater Angler Registry. That will accommodate most of the anglers fishing in Maryland, but there are others that will still need to register. The lions share of those fishermen that need to register are the guests that are fishing aboard boats that have a Chesapeake & Coastal Sport Decal, and waterfront property owners and their guests who are fishing from their property. Those anglers should register through Maryland DNR’s FREE registration located on our website at: http://dnr.maryland.gov/swregistry.asp
Also, all offshore anglers that are passengers (except the permit holder) on a boat with an HMS permit will need to be registered. When in doubt, we always recommend registering. The process is free and takes just a couple of minutes to complete. Be aware that you will need to print your registration out. It will not be mailed to you. Finally, one cardinal rule for this year………DO NOT REGISTER THROUGH THE NOAA website. NOAA will charge you $15.00, and again, Maryland’s registration is free. This has been a point of confusion this year. NOAA gave the states one year to provide their own compliant systems, and ours is free and simple to use. If the readers of the Coastal Fisherman have any questions on license requirements or the National Saltwater Angler Registry, they can call 410-656-9526.
Striped Bass in the Surf
A final footnote for this week’s update. Our biologists are indicating the striped bass spawn in the Chesapeake is wrapping up, but this year’s spawn has been protracted due to cooler temperatures in April and May, with a slow and steady incremental rise in those temperatures. As a result the post spawn migration should see a good number of migrant stripers moving up the coast the last two weeks of May. It will be interesting to see if this shows up as a dominant run off of Assateague and Ocean City, with a lot of great pictures in the Coastal Fisherman.
Black Sea Bass Opens May 22
Black sea bass season on Maryland’s coast opens on May 22nd, with a 12.5-inch minimum size and a daily creel limit of 25 fish per angler per day. The season runs through October 11th. This year’s season in Ocean City could have started much later, but thanks to some hard work by a team of fishery biologists and statisticians, including Lynn Fegley, Mike Luisi, Carrie Kennedy, Steve Doctor and others, working with input with knowledgeable constituents like Captain Monty Hawkins, an initiative to implement regional management was approved for this year. Because last year’s harvest (2010) was principally driven by northern states (Massachusetts in particular), the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council approved a regionalized management approach for this year that would not penalize southern states like Maryland, who did not experience significant harvest. So kudos to the collaboration between fishermen and biologists, and accolades to Maryland’s team at the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council; Steve Linhard, Howard King and Mike Luisi for their efforts to maintain a full black sea bass season for Maryland’s Atlantic coast.
Questions From Coastal Fisherman Readers?
I welcome any questions you may have on fisheries management, sportfishing licenses, or any other fisheries related questions. Please e mail your questions to: [email protected]
Until next week... good fishing!
Marty Gary is Assistant Director/Fisheries Ecologist at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Fisheries Service.
