Federal Licenses for spearfishing

[divezonescuba]

Hello:

Can you guys let me know if I am correct in this?

To have paid spearfishing charters in the Gulf of Mexico in U.S. waters, you have to have both a federal pelagic and a reef fish permit.

New permits are no longer issued, so you have to either lease or buy the permits from an existing permit holder?

On the other hand, if you don't take compensation, you can take divers out to spearfish without any federal permits?

Thanks.

 

[Captain Bil]

That's my understanding of it. If you are just some guys out fishing, as long as you have the appropriate recreational licenses you should be okay. Once you take ANY money, it can be construed as commercial and you're nailed.

I'd be real careful about it. If you are licensed and run charters, the authorities will look long and hard at you if you say you're just out with friends any one particular time.

 

[Tortuga James]

Lets think this through. Commercial means "fish" for sale. Spearfishing divers on a recreational charter (for pay or other wise) are keeping their fish for personal consumption just like if they went out on a rec fishing charter. Ask the guy in the slip next to you who runs bottom fishing trips how he percieves the regulation. The definition of "commercial" goes beyong whether you are taking in money. It is about fisheries management, and they are assaulting "commercial fishermen" at full force.

Last year, I got my Federal NOAA/NMF Highly Migratory Species (tunas, billfish), Dolphin/Wahoo, and Snapper/Grouper permits for the first time and easily online. I just renewed all three. I sometimes run offshore sportfishing charters for hire. The NC commercial Buy/sell permit is a totally different story. I would have to have that to sell some mahi to a seafood dealer. They are not making any more of those here in NC and you have to buy an existing permit from someone that holds it. Market price is about $2500 and the annual fee to the NCDMF is $600.

 

[Dr Dive]

Hello:

Can you guys let me know if I am correct in this?

To have paid spearfishing charters in the Gulf of Mexico in U.S. waters, you have to have both a federal pelagic and a reef fish permit.

New permits are no longer issued, so you have to either lease or buy the permits from an existing permit holder?

On the other hand, if you don't take compensation, you can take divers out to spearfish without any federal permits?

Thanks.

Don't forget your state fishing license. If you get one for the boat, it is only good on paid charter trips. If you go for fun, everyone needs a personal fishing license. Tricky and confusing. Gotta have one to go out and come back through state waters.

Capt. Jim

 

[Spear N Fool]

After doing alittle checking with LA Wildlife and Fisheries buddy of mine this is what was sent to me

To: captmarkfrost@yahoo.com

The reef and coastal pelagic permit is something that every charter boat captain in the Gulf of Mexico must have in order to catch and keep any type of snapper, cobia, grouper, amberjack, and mackerel.



Snapper, Grouper, and Amberjack fall under the reef fish permit and all other reef fish species.

Cobia and Mackerel fall under the coastal pelagic permit.



These permits are one in the same, although they classify different species . You cannot possess one or the other, you can only have both.



These permits are no longer available for sale from NMFS. In 2000, there was a moratorium put on the permits to slow down the amount of people getting into the charter boat business. The Gulf, mainly Fla., Alabama, and Texas had a 500% increase in charter boats in a two year period (or something like that) With the amount of people trying to get into the charter business the Feds knew that the fish stocks would not be able to sustain this type of pressure so this was their answer to stopping people from getting into the charter business. The idea was presented to the Gulf Council and they approved it. If someone does not have these permits they can buy them from someone who already holds them and the going rate is anywhere from 6000.00 to 10,000.00 per set of permits. You cannot separate the reef fish/coastal pelagic permit. Right now, all charter boats fishing for reef fish or coastal pelagics should have a blue sticker attached to the boat on the port side of the vessel. You can’t miss it. They should also possess two sheets of paper, one being a reef fish permit with an official seal and the other a coastal pelagic permit with an official seal that you can see when you hold it up to light. I can show you next time you are at the marina.



This link will give you a list of the federal permit holders in the Gulf of Mexico. You have historical captains whom are listed under the historical reef fish and pelagic permit holder. This means that they were late getting their permits when they needed to so NOAA penalized them by making them non-transferable. The top two links are reef and pelagic permit holders. You can see who holds these permits by clicking below and going to the Louisiana Section. Depending on when you got your permits they do have different expiration dates. Some expire in March, others in February, but for this year they are blue Square stickers that clearly say reef and coastal pelagic permit on them with the valid dates. This will help you if you are familiar with the captains in the area you work. You may want to check with NOAA as well and you could probably get an official list for La.