Salt water fishing license? Would you pay?

[Chrisper4694]

Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski

I don’t support a license for several reasons and it’s not about having to spend $x on a license.
- I don’t think it would increase access it would decrease it. You and your family are down at the beach or the bay for the day or on vacation and you think to yourself, let’s go fishing but you don’t have license. Probably means you’re not going to fish part of that maybe money, inconvenience or both and that would be a shame.
- I hear the money will be used for free ramps, yeah where? Most every piece of convenient land on the water in NJ is owned privately or by a municipality.. We do have some land owned by the state in Leonardo and in Atlantic City but you pay to launch.
- Since we’re taxed to death already, our state has enough money to do practically what ever it wants to since the state budget is now $56 Billion. It’s not a matter of money, it’s a matter of priorities.
- Some say we’re missing out on federal funding since we don’t have a license and others say it wouldn’t make a difference. I’d like to see proof one way or the other.
- I’d love to see more funding for the reef program but I don’t trust that the money from the license will be spent the way we want it , it will be spent the way they want it and you can guarantee they’ll be a lot of waste and mismanagement of the funds, this is NJ people. If we want money for the reef let’s raise money for it so we’re sure that’s where it gets used. Let’s also get our state to make it and other things we need a priority. It’s our money, not theirs!

Im with you not trusting the process but the best example is florida.... how does florida do it and its very successful based on how plentiful and well kept the access and marine environments are.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by Chrisper4694

Im with you not trusting the process but the best example is florida.... how does florida do it and its very successful based on how plentiful and well kept the access and marine environments are.

I can assure you it's not because they have a salt water fishing license, it's because they care about fish and game a made it a funding priority in their budget. The FL SW license revenue was $7.2M in 2023

Florida spends $102M on fish and wildlife and has a total state budget of $116B.

NJ spends $15M on Fish and Wildlife and we have a $56B total state budget

The total state FL budget is a factor of almost 2X the size of ours but they outspend us in fish and game by a factor of 7X.

This is why I think the SW license is not the issue, the issue is SW fishing is not budget priority in our states government and politics.

Speaking of not being a priority, we have 2 vacant NJ marine (saltwater) council positions that it's the governors job to fill and his administration has neglected to do so in spite of being in office almost 7 years now.

I'll be the first to say we have more then our fair share of important issues here in our state but don't you think the $2B of revenue that salt water generates for our state each year deserves a bit more attention and priority?

Maybe we need to wait until the 2025 election and hope there are some changes in priorities

[Chrisper4694]

Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski

I can assure you it's not because they have a salt water fishing license, it's because they care about fish and game a made it a funding priority in their budget. The FL SW license revenue was $7.2M in 2023

Florida spends $102M on fish and wildlife and has a total state budget of $116B.

NJ spends $15M on Fish and Wildlife and we have a $56B total state budget

The total state FL budget is a factor of almost 2X the size of ours but they outspend us in fish and game by a factor of 7X.

This is why I think the SW license is not the issue, the issue is SW fishing is not budget priority in our states government and politics.

Speaking of not being a priority, we have 2 vacant NJ marine (saltwater) council positions that it's the governors job to fill and his administration has neglected to do so in spite of being in office almost 7 years now.

I'll be the first to say we have more then our fair share of important issues here in our state but don't you think the $2B of revenue that salt water generates for our state each year deserves a bit more attention and priority?

Maybe we need to wait until the 2025 election and hope there are some changes in priorities

Definitely need to wait for these political blowhards to get voted out to accomplish anything, you got that right! Tired of the same old political clowns on both sides. We will have at least one better option in 2025 who is a normal nj american that cares about outdoorsmen and small businesses like our tackle shops and charters.