We (the Cape Fear Blue Water Fishing Club) have asked for rebuttal and/or explanation from the NC Marine Patrol. This letter was forwarded from my club email account.
Hello. Thought I would share a very unhappy experience. My wife had an emergency call from the North Carolina Marine Patrol about our 36 foot Hatteras and she found me at the shop. So I called the Marine Patrol and they wanted to measure my boat (Anonymous) and compare their measurements with my Commercial Fishing License. I dropped everything and went to Bradley Creek and met with them. They measured the boat and a 36.3 Hatteras has now grown to a 40.9 foot Hatteras and I was advised that I was in violation of the law and was given a North Carolina Marine Patrol warning ticket and have to report to the licensing agency and have my fishing license corrected and of course pay more money. I do not understand how the Marine Patrol can alter the boat Federal Registration. So I pointed out the swim platform which they counted was for my wife who has MS and can not walk this gives her access to the boat and the bow pulpit was added after the boat was manufactured. The Marine Patrol told me the way the law reads anyone could fish off the swim platform or the bow pulpit so it was to be counted. I pointed out that I have a 100 ton US Captains License and the Coast Guard would take my license if I allowed that to happen. So to make use of the Marine Patrols Time I requested a Inspection of the vessel and was told they were quite behind in their work and they would see me on the water (as a threat) and then proceeded to kill another 45 minutes in the Bradley Creek parking lot talking things over. Let me tell you our tax dollars at work. Please advise members this is taking place and the ones with a Commercial Fishing License watch out. I may just assign my License to my 12ft duck boat to fix them. Thank you for your time. Capt. zzzzz
Reply from CFBWFC: This is incredible. Tax dollars at work, & at it’s best. I’ll forward the e-mail to club members. What prompted the inspection? Capt. xyxyxy.
The Marine Patrol had a stack of copies of issued license that they picked at random then called on their North Carolina issued cell phone the phone the number listed on the license making it sound as it was a emergency and of course would not advise the person answering the phone what the problem was. In turn my upset wife wanted to know what I did wrong or was the vessel leaking fuel or oil. This is a very bad situation and according to my friend (anonymous) with the Marine Fisheries the State of North Carolina Marine Fisheries our wonderful legislators passed this into law and I really do not think they knew that they now into documenting the length of vessels. We definitely need to band together and stop this sort of thing. Our tax dollars at work. Capt. zzzzz
We (the Cape Fear Blue Water Fishing Club) have asked for rebuttal and/or explanation from the NC Marine Patrol. This letter was forwarded from my club email account.
Hello. Thought I would share a very unhappy experience. My wife had an emergency call from the North Carolina Marine Patrol about our 36 foot Hatteras and she found me at the shop. So I called the Marine Patrol and they wanted to measure my boat (Anonymous) and compare their measurements with my Commercial Fishing License. I dropped everything and went to Bradley Creek and met with them. They measured the boat and a 36.3 Hatteras has now grown to a 40.9 foot Hatteras and I was advised that I was in violation of the law and was given a North Carolina Marine Patrol warning ticket and have to report to the licensing agency and have my fishing license corrected and of course pay more money. I do not understand how the Marine Patrol can alter the boat Federal Registration. So I pointed out the swim platform which they counted was for my wife who has MS and can not walk this gives her access to the boat and the bow pulpit was added after the boat was manufactured. The Marine Patrol told me the way the law reads anyone could fish off the swim platform or the bow pulpit so it was to be counted. I pointed out that I have a 100 ton US Captains License and the Coast Guard would take my license if I allowed that to happen. So to make use of the Marine Patrols Time I requested a Inspection of the vessel and was told they were quite behind in their work and they would see me on the water (as a threat) and then proceeded to kill another 45 minutes in the Bradley Creek parking lot talking things over. Let me tell you our tax dollars at work. Please advise members this is taking place and the ones with a Commercial Fishing License watch out. I may just assign my License to my 12ft duck boat to fix them. Thank you for your time. Capt. zzzzz
Reply from CFBWFC: This is incredible. Tax dollars at work, & at it’s best. I’ll forward the e-mail to club members. What prompted the inspection? Capt. xyxyxy.
The Marine Patrol had a stack of copies of issued license that they picked at random then called on their North Carolina issued cell phone the phone the number listed on the license making it sound as it was a emergency and of course would not advise the person answering the phone what the problem was. In turn my upset wife wanted to know what I did wrong or was the vessel leaking fuel or oil. This is a very bad situation and according to my friend (anonymous) with the Marine Fisheries the State of North Carolina Marine Fisheries our wonderful legislators passed this into law and I really do not think they knew that they now into documenting the length of vessels. We definitely need to band together and stop this sort of thing. Our tax dollars at work. Capt. zzzzz