THE SPORT nSHERY 195 



guide for an hourly or daily fee; party boats, which offer 

 "fun fishing" to large numbers of novices at low cost; and 

 guide services, which may be provided independently of 

 vessel rental arrangements at an hourly or daily rate.-' 



Small boats available for hire without an operator or 

 guide are not appropriately classified as charter opera- 

 tions; "bareboat" rentals are analogous to rentals of 

 tackle and accessories, and are not a special issue in 

 fisheries policy. 



Like so many other matters relating to the sport 

 fishery, statistical information on the charterboat indus- 

 try is very sparse, and until last year virtually nonexis- 

 tent. Through a voluntary registration program for guides 

 and charterboats undertaken by the Department in 1981, 

 some 500 guides and operators and 600 boats were regis- 

 tered, and these are believed to represent roughly 80 per- 

 cent of those active in the industry." A supplementary 

 mail survey of those registered, which aimed at obtaining 

 more information about the nature and scope of the 

 industry, was not successful: few responses were received 

 due to a lengthy postal strike, resentment over recently 

 announced sportfishing regulations, suspicions about the 

 Department's reasons for conducting the survey, and 

 depressed economic conditions that closed some opera- 

 tions for the entire season.'' At the same time, a Sport 

 Fishing Guide Log Book was distributed for voluntary 

 completion and return, but again the response was low, 

 so that reliable information on the charterboat industry 

 remains sparse. 



Charterboat licensing The dearth of information 

 about this important and expanding sector of the fisheries 

 and about its resource utilization is a serious impediment 

 to effective management and policy development. I there- 

 fore propose that charterboats be required to obtain 

 licences, like other commercial fishing vessels, for the pri- 

 mary purpose of obtaining data on the size and structure 

 of the industry and its catches: 



8. Those who provide vessels with guides for sportfishing 

 should be required to obtain a licence for each charter- 

 boat. 



i) The licence should be issued by the DepartnK>nt 

 at an aiuiual fee of $50. 



ii) Licensees should be required to maintain a sim- 

 ple logbook for each ves.sel docimienting the 

 number of persons fishing, their catches and 

 related information for the Department's use. 



Ojmpliance with the logbook requirement should be 

 enforced through powers to cancel or refuse to renew a 

 licence. 



The proposed licence fee is the same as I propose for 

 other commercial fishing licences. It is intended to defray 



administrative costs only. For purposes of raising reve- 

 nue and capturing some of the economic rent, direct lev- 

 ies on the sport fishermen themselves, through fees for 

 licences and tags, are more appropriate. Given these gen- 

 eral charges on all sport fishermen, additional contribu- 

 tions from those who provide sport fishermen with cer- 

 tain services cannot be justified. Nor is there any 

 justification for special levies on charterboat operators as 

 distinct from operators of shore-based establishments 

 that serve sport fishermen. 



Some have suggested that charterboat licences should 

 be limited, like some other commercial fishing licences. 

 But for the latter, the purpose is to control the growth of 

 fishing capacity so that it does not exceed the level 

 needed to harvest the catch. This threat does not exist in 

 the commercial sportfishing sector, so no comparable 

 restrictions are needed. This industry grows as demand 

 for its services grows, much like the hotel and other tour- 

 ist industries; and (unlike overcrowded commercial 

 fisheries) as it grows, production grows also. 



Some of the concern expressed at the Commission's 

 hearings to restrict the charterboat industry stems from a 

 broader concern to control the sportfishing catch. The 

 share of the available catch allocated to sportfishing is 

 unquestionably an important issue in fisheries policy, and 

 the catch of the users of charterboats is part of the sport 

 catch. But whether sport fishermen choose to use their 

 own fishing equipment and expertise or to hire them is 

 not a matter for governmental concern. 



Fisheries policy should interfere as little as possible 

 with the choices of fishermen about how they choose to 

 fish and, within the limits of the available sport catch, 

 accommodate as much variety of choice as possible to 

 enrich recreational opportunities. 



Policy should avoid discriminating among sport fisher- 

 men on the basis of the services they employ or among 

 service businesses. My proposal regarding licensing of 

 charterboat operators is thus directed at closing an 

 important gap in the information required for effectively 

 monitoring and regulating the sport fishery. 



Sportfishing guides The 500 or so saltwater 

 sportfishing guides work on a wide variety of vessels and 

 under varying arrangements with customers and employ- 

 ers. Some are full-time career guides, often with substan- 

 tial investments in vessels and equipment and long expe- 

 rience; a larger number are seasonal employees — stu- 

 dents and men and women who take other winter 

 employment. They are unorganized except for one or two 

 local associations, which are concerned mainly with mar- 

 ket promotion. 



Hitherto, saltwater sportfishing guides have been unre- 

 gulated. But a form of regulation by licensing, akin to the 



