Bill Provides Fairness for Va. Fishermen

By Jessica Porter
Capital News Service

RICHMOND -- At the urging of legislators representing the Eastern Shore, the General Assembly seems likely to approve a law to ensure fair fishing rights for Virginia's commercial fishermen.

The Senate has unanimously passed Senate Bill 192, sponsored by Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk. And the House is considering final approval of the almost identical House Bill 1291, sponsored by Delegate Lynwood Lewis, D-Accomac.

The bills would address inequities in fishing rights along the East Coast.
In some states, fishermen cannot buy a license for certain types of commercial fishing, so they purchase it in Virginia, where it isn’t restricted.

The problem is that Virginians cannot use resources in the states those fishermen come from, because the license does not exist or because the state has a much higher non-resident license fee than Virginia.

“It’s a fairness bill. We want Virginia’s commercial fishermen to be treated the way we treat other state’s fishermen,” said John Bull, spokesman for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.

For example, the sale of commercial gillnet licenses is closed in New Jersey, so many New Jersey fishermen come to Virginia to buy licenses, Bull said. However, Virginians cannot do the same in New Jersey.

Similarly, when Maryland fishermen cannot get licenses to crab dredge, they can cross the state line to Virginia, where crab dredging licenses soon will be available. Also, Maryland charges non-residents much more for licenses than Virginia does, Bull said.

SB 192 and HB 1291 states that “No commercial fishing license shall be sold to a non-resident whose state of residence does not offer for sale the same or substantially similar license to a resident of the Commonwealth.”

Ken Smith, president of the Virginia Waterman’s Association, said fisherman support the proposal.

“Maybe it will broaden the doors on what we’re able to do,” he said. “And if it doesn’t broaden our doors, maybe it will stop people from taking our resources. People come to our waters and catch our fish but they take them back to their state and sell them.”


Read the whole story at www.WTOP.com