Therein lies the rub
Dear g2d,
I won’t speak for other States but in PA the Fish and Boat Commission and the Game Commission are self funded. They receive no money from the States general fund, instead they rely on the income from license sales for their budgets.
Through those license sales the State Departments in charge of hunting anf fishing have developed an extensive and impressive list of land holdings and river and stream access points. Those places are open to the general public free of charge, with the exception of users who avail themselves of State owned boat ramps.
When the launch permits for unpowered boats were first proposed people felt they were being unfairly targeted and spoke out against losing their free rides. As a fisherman and former hunter I pretty much said, “too bad you freeloading #%^^%&$#'s, it’s about time you started to chip in for the things that you are using.”
The launch permits have been around now for about 7 or 8 years and so far the vast majority of people I see using boat launches have the required registered boats, or canoes and kayaks with launch permits. A number of people who I have seen canoeing or kayaking have now gone as far as to have their boats registered as unpowered boats.
What many formally saw as unfair is now seen as a fair and reasonable price to pay for the use of facilities developed by the others.
I call that a win-win, others may differ with that thought, but I’m convinced it’s made things better and not worse here in my home State.
Regards,
Tim Murphy AKA Goobs
Printed on plastic in Minnesota
Watercraft registration and fishing license are printed on plastic material that has a peel-off paper backing. The form is set up so it, once paper backing is removed, can be folded in half and stuck to itself. Exact folding is a little tricky so sometimes get a bit of goo on one edge. But it’s good for these documents that often get wet. That won’t help OP problem. I suggest waterproof case and make suggestion they switch to using plastic in the future.
The
The “Nazi” state of the original post is Iowa, where fines finance the states bloated budget. Officers love to fine whenever possible. By the way crime is very low here.
Any canoe or kayak over 13’ must have a registration. And it’s a big expense (around $75) if you cannot show the paper if stopped.
I HAVE to carry registration somehow.
How about fiberglassing it to the side of the boat?
Don’t you get a sticker?
permit
I live in Pa. and don’t have a problem with paying a fee to launch at Pa Fish Commission sites. Most of the time they are well maintained convenient places to use.
My beef is if you own more than one kayak or canoe you must buy multiple permits. Having the permit on your person should be enough.
Iowa sucks for reg.
Iowa is bad. I bought my Jensen from someone down there and spent a couple hours carefully scraping off the huge lettering off each side of the boat with a credit card and hair dryer, not to mention the reg. stickers about 10 thick. It was bad times. Im fine with the registration requirements but do you really need to defile the boat with 3" serial #s? I would be pissed as &^%$# if I had a nice sexy carbon fiber pro boat in Iowa with crappy plastic decals all over it. Here in MN they ask you the county its primarily used in as they also allocate DNR $ based on where boats are used.
Caveat to that
"Must" is a strong word here. “Should” would be better.
You can attach your launch permits to a piece of plastic (I use the large plastic putty knives from Loews.) and hang them from your thwart or seat while in the vicinity of an official PA F&BC launch. You just flip them back inside the boat when you are out on the water.
When you change boats, take the hanging placard with you.
I have discussed this with numerous F&B officers. They are well aware that many boat owners don’t want to attach stickers to their boats and they are aware that many boat owners own numerous boats. They just want to see a permit when the boat is at an official launch site.
Those launch permits aren’t transferable
… from one boat to the next. Just an FYI. Not that I’m bothered. Though if I “were” to transfer a sticker from one boat to the next I “might” attach it to the side with clear packing tape.