On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 18:11:11 -0500, Gene Kearns
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 21:33:02 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

It piqued my curiosity how he got around the requirement to have a
license and according to him, he doesn't need a license to take a
customer on his boat because the customer is hiring him and not the
boat. His reasoning is that the boat is merely the method to get
where they are going - he doesn't need a special license to take his
truck to a remote stream or lake, so why would he need one for his
boat?

This is a rationale existing only in the mind of this "guide."
Federal regulations consider that a passenger for hire is any person
who has contributed funds as a condition of carriage on the vessel.
These funds can end up in the pocket of any person having an interest
in the vessel and it is still considered carrying a passenger for
hire.

If you carry a passenger for hire, you better have some kind of USCG
license.

This guy might get away with this if he doesn't have *any* interest in
the vessel used, but I didn't read your question that way...

There *are* guide licenses, but to my knowledge they are all thinly
disguised state taxes and have nothing to do with federal DOT
requirements. Oh, yeah, DHS, now, too....

Go get that 6-pack. ....................Uh. license, that is.....

That's what I understood from reading the requirements for having a
license - it's also why I asked the question.

For me it's not a problem - I'm not looking to get into the charter
business in any fashion. I just thought it was an interseting
rational.

Thanks for the clarification.

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
----------
"My rod and my reel - they comfort me."

St. Pete, 12 Lb. Test