I thought about whiting out my address so any of you creepers won't know where I live but these days it's just a quick Google search and anyone's address can be found. Try it for yourself. It's especially easy if you own a home. Info like what you paid, when, who lives there, ect. It is kinda creepy, and dangerous. But it's all part of public record so good luck hiding.
But anyway. On December 15th New Jersey opened the Recreational Saltwater Registry. It's free. You can get a ticket if the Law stops and asks you for proof. And in the end it is being done to benefit you and the fish that we target in each state, at least that's what they say.
If you are already in the NJ Fish & Wildlife system then you easily come up and it takes about 3 minutes. Surprisingly the Deadbeat Dads Questionnaire doesn't come up, I guess that only happens if you want to purchase a license for hunting or fishing. I actually went back into the NJ F&W website and went through the process to purchase a Freshwater license and trout stamp and I was never prompted to
complete the certification. I wonder if that has gone by the wayside. It's funny that you have to answer questions regarding your child support obligations to hunt or fish, but not say, register a car or to get or renew your drivers license. One, you shouldn't be behind in supporting your kids, but two, is that biased against people, both men and women, who hunt and fish?
For the conspiracy theorists out there New York's note on the saltwater registry program must make them vomit. The government will have a "phone book" with your info readily available for them to "quickly and easily" reach you in case they need to know if you went fishing in the middle of the
night and caught that East River bite. And while I'm on New York, if you fish the below waters, even though you launch and have registered from another state, you need to go and register with New York
as well. What's is interesting is the registry does show, who registers, and what states they came from. The bulk of the registry, 94,662, in New Jersey comes from our very own residents. Interestingly PA is the next largest, at 28,618, while only 6,118 New Yorkers claim they fish New Jersey waters, and that's from a boat or on the beach, that my friends is not an accurate number. And when we joke about the "Massholes" coming down to get into our striped bass bite 402 admit they make the trip.
So whatever you think of it, like the government creeping on you or it being a precursor to a for fee saltwater fishing license, you have to go and get it done. And don't forget if you cross a border to fish the slat you have to register with them as well.
