Commercial permits & harvest report filing

[samiam]

Just a note TWIMC. Each year, I obtain a NJ marine bait net permit, and freshwater snapping turtle and frog permits. I don't sell, but I like having the flexibility. The bait net permit is $12 and frog and turtle are $2 each, so I'm not exactly breaking the bank Those permits come with an obligation to file harvest reports. Last year I didn't have time to actually use any of those permits. So, I got lazy and didn't file my "0" take reports. I figured I could just note on my 2014 applications that I took nothing. The NJFW marine office accepted that, and sent my new bait net permit promptly, but the freshwater office (which is completely separate) did not. After a month passed, I called the office, and was told that they wouldn't send my permits until I submitted all my harvest reports for 2013. So I had to resconstruct a set of harvest reports for each permitted water body for turtle, and another set for frog. It wasn't too awful for me, since I leveraged my computer knowledge (I created a master report in Adobe Acrobat, then copied and changed the month for each individual report), but I guarantee that it would be a gigantic PITA if done by hand. The lesson taken is: file those harvest reports on time, even if you take nothing. I know that's what I'll be doing this year.

-Samiam

[Ron]

The state is arbitrary with their enforcement and monitoring of required paperwork.   This is especially true through shellfisheries.