For as long as anyone can recall, North Shore children have ventured out with their fathers and grandfathers to places like the Salem Willows pier or the bridge over the Waters River in Danvers to do a little fishing.
But in a few years this carefree pursuit will no longer involve simply grabbing a pole, picking up some bait, and throwing a hook in the water. The adult will need to have a permit.
Legislation signed by Gov. Deval Patrick last week requires for the first time since our Puritan forefathers arrived on these shores, that in order to fish in coastal waters you obtain a license from the Department of Fish and Game.
Children under 16 years of age are exempted, as are those over 59 and the disabled. And there will be two days a year anyone can fish without a license.
But for the majority of people most of the time, it's pay up or risk getting nabbed by the fishing police.
Many recreational fishermen appear resigned to having their lines entangled with more red tape. Freshwater fishing has long required a license, and many states began requiring the same of saltwater anglers years ago.
Indeed, federal bureaucrats had warned Massachusetts that if it did not establish a licensing system, they would; in which case all the money collected would go the Treasury in Washington. The new law keeps the revenue in state to be used for data collection and other activities of benefit to recreational fishermen. That's some consolation, we suppose.
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