Does anyone buy Fishing Licenses anymore?

I was at Winkles about a month ago, (will never fish on the rock again, the stink was unbearable) ,DAFF members came and asked me if I had license which I replied yes but they never asked to check it , same with a few other fisherman, I did notice on the beach they checked licenses even if you were just sitting or standing around not holding a rod.They took 1 guy away with 5 under-size shad ( around 20 cm ) the other guys hid their under-size shad in the bins,under dirt etc. The guy that was said to be fined R 1000.00 per under-size fish, returned after about 30 mins with a kilo bait and continued fishing, keeping anything and everything that he caught (mostly under-size) and when asked by another fisherman what the outcome was , he replied with a big smile on his face "they gave me a break and told me not to fish on the rock again, and they kept my fish." I think that is why most of the fishermen are not bothered to buy license any more.

I have a valid fishing permit / licence. I fish quite often. But I don't fish in the hot spots. I have never seen of met the new Daff officials. I sometimes wonder if they exist ??

Some of these "anglers" attitude towards authority (DAFF) is ridiculous. They claim to not buy a licence because the parks board are no longer in charge, if they found out that the Ezemvelo are no longer in charge, it is extremely likely that they also figured out the DAFF are now in charge. There is no formal publication that has been gazetted saying the no person requires a licence any more. It's common sense that you should have one!

IMHO: these are the guys that could care less about bag and size limits and full enforce the catch your limit and not limit your catch saying.

i have a permit, and won't fish if didn't (a month or so ago, weather was brilliant to wet a line but my permit expired and i did not even go down to the beach)

i suppose when your TV License expires then you dont watch TV anymore.
:)

We need an unlike icon. Please. !!!!

On principle, you can compare the 2, TV licence and Fishing licence, but on logic, you can't. Whether i watch TV with an expired licence or not is my choice to make. just like how whether i fish an expired licence, is also my choice. We all have choices, when the s*** hits the fan, those that blatantly ignore the rules must man up and take the punishment

Top post adrian

I renew each year

but tell me were is my money going ?
we used to get a ruler ,tide chart etc each year
they do not even have proper forms to fill and give us a photo copy
give us a contact to call or someone to speak to ,and daff reply we new and dont know much
we ask for what is due to us and they say ask the post office ,its visa versa
i am fed up with the way thing are going
As per Daf they are under staffed to be on every beach

So can someone give me a number or whom i could speak to

Officials are busy at Winkelspruit (KZN)
Early in the morning they were there check everybody's license and record it as well
Id number and expiring dates . Don't take chances - they will fine you if you don't have one. Be safe and catch legal ...

Hi guys,

I do, because it's the right thing and I wouldn't want to lose my tackle for not paying R76 or so :)

I was caught with a licence that was expired by 6 days. A few years ago. I had to go to the police station with my tackle and pay a fine of R 100. The inconvenience was alot worse than the fine.

Hi

How sad that with no proper control, our waters will eventually suffer the consequences in time, not forgetting our kids and the generations to follow. I live in Mpumalanga, make around 4 trips down to KZN a year and on average fish about 7 days in total in those 4 trips. I diligently purchase my fishing license "Cos its the right thing to do". what happens to the moneys is not my concern. what I want is piece of mind when im fishing, not standing at the waters edge and looking backwards to see if the authorities are around-how much of social fishing is that?
Its really sad to see how some surf anglers exploit the beaches with catches of undersize fish as well as over quota limits, which leave me to believe the reason why we do not get the quality of fish we used to get in the past.

it really saddens me when I do get to fish to see how "our" sea is being abused.
I can recall 3 incidents in the last 2 years where I caught undersize shad and threw them back to possibly grow and fight another day, only to be sworn at by anglers around me. Is this the culture we have for fishing- if so then I am deeply saddened that some of us have missed that bus.

tight lines guys
Vino

Unfortunately the sad truth about this is that it’s so common not just at Umkomaas but almost at every fishing spot. We see this so often. I once tried to educated a group of guys about being fined and possible even have all you tackle take away and the response I got was “we will deal with it when the time come”
The biggest question is what can be done?

Greed, lack of respect and ignorance has unfortunately been the downfall of our fish stocks. And the culprits usually are the ones who do not buy a permit as well. I do not know how we will ever be able to change this mind set of certain individuals. I truly believe the only answer is that much more officials must be put into place to enforce the rules and regulations .

And yes, I buy a permit every year.