The dfference between a Recreational Fishing trip and a Charter.

Some ad's have been popping up on Craigslist recently offering to take people out deep sea

fishing for a small fixed fee. With tough economic times it is hard for most boat owners to do

the things they would like to with their boats, without someone else chipping in. There is

however a fine line between cost sharing and a "For-Hire" trip. Knowing what the law say's

can make the difference between a fun day fishing, and running an illegal Charter.

FWC, USCG, and NOAA all agree that friends getting togeather and splitting the cost on

a boating trip is totally fine, as long as the boat owner does not collect money beyond

what the day's actual hard cost of fuel, oil, bait, Ice, and food would run. What is not allowed

is "charging" a fee, or collecting for anything beyond these hard cost, such as insurance,

boat payments, rental or useage fee's, payment for any service (captain, skipper, etc), or

anything beyond those hard cost. Advertising in commercial listings for fishing trips starts

to question the nature of the trip. Advertising a fixed fee also questions the trip. When I started

my Charter business, I ran some "cost" trips to establish what I actually spent per trip, and

those that went with me split this cost up. This was fine, and I even went as far as stating

that it was NOT a Charter. 

When doing this with friends problems rarely come up, however when soliciting for others

to support your hobby, great care is needed on both ends. The question of liability certainly

is worth considering. What are the qualifications of the boats operator? Does the boat have the

USCG required safety gear? Is there insurance on the boat? What are policies if I get sick?

Of coarse fishing requires a license, and if not a Charter, which requires the operator to

provide the license, then each person if required to have a license or proof of exemption.

Any fishing trip that "cost" more than the price of the gas, oil, bait, ice, food for that days

trip is a "for hire" trip. These trips require a USCG licensed Captain w/TWIC, USGC-UPV

safety gear, FWC fishing license, NOAA Permits if fishing beyond 3 miles. and appropriate

local and state business licensing. Although insurance is not required, is is practically a

must nowdays.

Remember also, the most important part of a fishing trip, especially offshore is NOT catching

fish! Neither is the more important thing having Fun!. The MOST important part of any such

excoursion is returning safely to the dock at the end of the day! Going out with an experianced

fisherman may be good for catching fish, but making sure that the boats opeator is qualified

to handle any situation that may arise is by far more important. A current USCG licensed

Captain with TWIC is required to know how to handle emergency situations, including basic

first aid. Though its not expected with any fishing trip things do happen unexpectidly on

occasion, and for the same reason smart people wear seatbelts in their car, having a

qualified operators with the credentials is a smart choice when considering such a trip.

Captain Henry

"Wile E Coyote"

www.ACME-Ventures-Fishing.com