Tuna landing license

[Gregotis98]

I'm checking into getting a tuna landing license, and it's not as easy as $20.00 for a permit, and you're good to go. I 'm at work and don't have alot of time to type about this, but can post more later if needed. The main cost of this is what is called a "personal bouyant apparatus." This is mandatory by the Coast Gaurd, and is basicaly a life raft without a top. The starting price seems to be about $1,800. Another item is a 406 EPIRB class 1 or 2. I need to go back to work now, and hope to have lots of great info and help on my next break.

[Mark Mc]

Well Greg, it looks like I owe you a beer. Please submit this voucher to me when we meet, hopefully near the Rogue B. in Newport.

According to the Portland CG office, Commercial Vessel Branch, the definition of "commercial fishing" (in place for 15 years) does not give any wiggle room and would include this activity of selling tuna from a sport boat. For vessels under 36 ft that are 12 miles or more from shore, they must have an "IBA" (inflatable buoyant apparatus) and an EPIRB, 406 MHz, cat 2 minimum, cat 1 optional. Oh, the IBA has to hold as many people as are on board.

Source: Kurt Farrell & Ken Lawrenson, Portland CG office, Commercial Vessel Branch
503-240-9337 / 240-9373

Thanks Greg for bringing this up!

[id. painter]

Thanks Skein for clearing the creek. O.K. I understand, now. id.p.

[Gregotis98]

O.K. I' now on my afternoon break at work and have calmed down a bit from my first posting on this subject. What Chum King wrote is exactly what I found out this morning. I'm sure there are people on here with much more experience on this subject than me. I started this topic because
I was under the assumption that if I had the tuna landing license all was taken care of. But now you are a commercial fishing boat in the eye's of the Coast Gaurd and must abide by their rules. Please do not assume anything when trying to do this, be sure to call the Coast Gaurd and check on all of the regulations, Ken Lawrenson with the office in Portland was a huge help, and gave exact info.

[Gregotis98]

I was planning on getting the license to help pay for gas this year. These are going to be VERY spendy trips this summer and I don't know how I can afford all this fuel. All of the items that the USCG requires are great and might still be worth the expense. Here are most of the items, but don't quote me on this because I'm not a lawyer


Type 4 life preserver
Survival suit for everyone
Inflatable bouyant apparatus, there are 2 types and both are ok. A duffle bag style called a valise pack or the hard shell external mounted type
406 style EPIRP, class 1 or 2
3 rocket flares with parachutes
6 handheld flares
3 smoke flares


Mark Mc, I missed your post before it was edited, but I'll take a beer anytime.

[id. painter]

Im not just dumb, but a little ignorant as well .. What ? Landing liscence ? whaaat? id. p.

[Chum King]

id. painter,

The albacore landing license is a special commercial fishing license that can be used in lieu of other commercial commercial fishing licenses if all you plan to land is albacore tuna. The license is not required for recreational anglers or even for commercial fishers if they are already licensed to fish for other species in Oregon.

The reason for the additional items that Gregotis98 is referring to is a bit convoluted. If you buy and use the albacore landing license, then in the eyes of the USCG you are now a commercial fishing vessel, and you must meet all the USCG safety equipment and other requirements for a commercial fishing vessel. The commercial albacore landing license exempts a boat from the other ODFW commercial licenses, but it does not exempt a boat from the federal requirements.

I hope that makes sense.

[Mark Mc]

OK so I'll edit my initial comments before I get foot-in-mouth disease.

Chum King, I am inclined to contact the CG about this. Have you spoken with them directly on this topic? If so, which office?Thx.....MM

[ 02-25-2003, 12:47 PM: Message edited by: Mark Mc ]

[Chum King]

Mark Mc,

No I have not spoken with the USCG on this issue. I am working on the assumption that Gregotis already did. Certainly, anyone wanting to go that route should contact the USCG for final clarification. You might be right about the vessel documentation, however, from what I've heard from state marine board licensed commercial fishers in the past, I believe they were still subject to the USCG commercial fishing vessel rules i.e. liferaft and EPIRB.

Also the original intent of the albacore landing license was really to provide a cheap and easy way to encourage the high seas tuna fleet to land their fish in Oregon. That would mean additional taxes on the landed fish, and more employment and economic benefits to the coastal community. That was back in the days of tuna canneries in Astoria.

[fish assassin]

Gregotis98:

Just a few random thoughts here ...

When we fished dories out of Pacific City we fished in "packs" with
both commercial and sport boats mixed together. None of us carried ALL
of the CG required saftey equiptment. The one piece we all lacked was
the IBA. In ten years of fishing for TUNA there, I was never checked for
an IBA. The CG never checked us on the ocean out on the TUNA grounds. Only
on the inside waters.

During the past two seasons of fishing for TUNA out of Depoe Bay I have
never ONCE been checked for saftey equiptment by the CG. I couldn't even
get the CG guys to walk down the dock to check out my boat to make sure I had
everything (saftey equiptment wise) that was required for me to carry.
They told me I had to set up an appointment with the office in Portland if
I wanted an inspection!!

The life jackets that are required are type 1 ... they are the best and
have the reflective patches sewn into the material. They also have to
have a light and a whistle attached to them (as do your survival suits).

Survival suits count as type 1 life jackets. If you have them you don't
need seperate life jackets.

Flares are expensive. Survival suits can be gotten for as little as
$100 from e-bay or from the papers. The valise style life raft is about $1500 and has to be re-packed every year (after
the first two years) at a cost of about $600.

Rule one: You can never have too much survival equiptment if you have
problems.
Rule two: It doesn't make sense to carry sooo much survival equiptment
that you put a small boat in jepordy (a life raft on a small boat sometimes
just doesn't make sense).

If you are a sport boat you are legal out TUNA fishing without all that
stuff. If you are a commercial boat you ain't ... however, if you catch
less than 25 fish per person you can claim to be a sport boat if you get
checked. If you are asked where you caught your fish ... "just inside 12
miles" is a good answer. Inside 12 miles you are not required to carry a
raft.

PS, if you have the room to do it, full survival gear is a GOOD thing!

-assAssin-

[Albacore Tuna Captain]

Unless you are planning on spending a lot of time offshore per trip, it doesn't make sense to approach tuna fishing as a commercial boat. If you are a sport boat you are allowed 25 fish a day and if you are making a two day trip, that's a lot of fish so why worry about being a commercial boat? You are only required to carry what you would on any normal offshore trip like halibut fishing. Even though it would be nice to have survival suits, inflatable rafts and all those flares. The 12 mile limit only applies to a commercial boat as far as the raft requirement goes. And you are not required to carry a survival suit though it would be a good safety issue. And if you do carry a survival suit, it is classified as a type 5 PFD which means it only counts if you are wearing it. If you don't have it on, you still need to carry a type 1 or 2 PFD.

Hope this helps a little.

Mike :smile:

[Gregotis98]

I'm starting to get confused? All I want to do is go albacore fishing, sell 20 or so fish to help pay for gas, and be legal. What now?

[fish assassin]

Buy the permit, buy all the saftey equiptment and go fishing! Remember,
it's only money ... :grin: :grin: :grin:

-assAssin-

[corrirod]

Greg, basically you can buy everything you listed for under $1000 on ebay so that's the costs you'll need to recoup first in order to start breaking even. Is it worth it? Could be, if you can bring in some large numbers of tuna per trip. Not sure what the going rate is for tuna right now, perhaps FA could help with that number?

There are some tax benefits I'm sure you could capitalize on also that could help defer some of the costs. I would imagine if you establish a business these items could be written-off as business expense items also.

[fish assassin]

It would probably be pretty hard to use the boat as a tax write-off
without a full fledged commercial license on your boat ... but then,
I'm not a CPA so you'd have to consult them first. My brother who is
a CPA would say you needed the whole enchilada. That would cost you about
$250 for you and the boat and $85/ea. for pullers licenses.

Tuna has been getting a buck a pound at Depoe Bay, but as little as
fourty-five cents at other ports. :shocked: :shocked:

-assAssin-

[Albacore Tuna Captain]

Let's see;

$450 for Survival suit, k$1800 for EPIRB, $1400 for raft, $150 for flares, $25 for landing permit (or $200 for commercial license plus $25 for haulers permit), $200 for sellers license, let's see that means you only have to sell about 2,727 lbs. of tuna. At a 12 lb average, that's only 227 fish. Heck, just pay for the fuel and go have a blast!

Capt. Mike

[Albacore Tuna Captain]

Here's a thought about purchasing all that equipment to try and recoup on expenses to have fun. I own a 55 foot charter boat that is already equipped with all the gear. I only need to purchase a $25 landing permit in order to go and commercially fish for tuna. I found I had to have a sellers permit in order to sell from my boat and that was $200. I couldn't deliver to the fish plants because the fish need to be frozen at a specific temperature. And if you intend to sell to the public, you need to keep the fish on ice from the time you catch them til you sell them. I commerically fished for tuna whenever I could for one season and found it just wasn't profitable. The amount of time involved from catching until you have the fish all sold was anywhere from 5 to 8 days. I don't recommend paying for your fishing trips by trying to sell your catch. Just go and have fun and leave the commercial fishing to those who work at it full time, you will be much happier. :smile:

Capt. Mike

[Sailfish]

Twenty bucks a piece to sell the fishes and recoup the gas just had to be too good to be true. Damn it. I'm startin to save for the fuel already and will unfortunately have to return to work on Monday to do it. Give me a buzz Greg when you get a chance.

[fish assassin]

Mike,

I agree with a lot you say in this thread, however, not all commercial
boats are out "5 to 8 days". There *are* a few of us crazies that are
"day boats" ... out in the morning, back in the evening. We sell into
the "fresh fish" market. I agree that ice is a problem. Even for day
boats. The fresh fish market demands higher standards from the fish
than the multi-day/week boats that are freezing their product. I personally
carry 300 quarts of ice on my boat when day fishing (both for salmon
*and* tuna).

The $200 sellers license is only if you want to sell your product to the
public and only covers fish sold off your boat at the dock. Not much
good unless you are willing to spend a couple of days at dock for every
day you fish (IMHO).

The only reason I brought up the full commercial license earlier in
the thread was the suggestion that you could write off your boat and
equipment for tax purposes.

Is commercial fishing profitable as a day boat?? Absolutly NOT!! However,
it allows me to spend more time on the ocean doing what I love to do most ...
FISH! I guess that I *could* become a six-pack charter captain, but then
I wouldn't be able to fish when I wanted and for whatever I wanted!

Being able to sell my fish (when I want to) helps me afford a bigger,
better and safer boat! Besides, it's kinda fun being a small boat commercial
fisherman (IMHO).

I do agree with you, though, if you can afford it, its a lot more fun to
just be a sport fisherman than it is to be a (part time) commercial fisherman.
You don't have near the pressures to produce! :grin: :grin:

BTW, if you happen to see Ken from the Irish, say "HI" to him from
Mark on the Pacific Mistress for me! I really enjoyed fishing TUNA
out there with him this year!

-assAssin-

[Albacore Tuna Captain]

You're right Assassin, but I was refering to selling the fish from the boat because I didn't have a locale buyer who would take iced fish. Even though a day trip boat brings in a better catch, I still had a tough time getting rid of 200 plus fish. I didn't stay out more that two days but it took too long to unload my catch so then I was tied to the dock. Being a charter/pleasure boat, gotta make the money while I can.

I saw ken a couple of days ago and I'll pass along the hello next time I see him. What is your boats name? I'm sure we have tore up some of the same grounds together.

Capt. Mike

[fish assassin]

Hi Mike,

Yes Sir, we DID tear up the same water a couple of times last season!
My boat is the aluminum catamaran, "Pacific Mistress", out of Depoe
Bay.

I understand the thing about making money while you can! It's the same
thing with the part-time commercial fishery that I do. I go out every
day that I can manage between the opening day of Salmon and the
closing day of salmon every year. That means March 15th until October
30th this year with 3 weeks of sport fishing in July (commercial chinook
is closed then) and 3-4 days off in August ... unless I'm out TUNA fishing!
About my most favorite thing in the world!!

I'll be real interested in hearing about your new TUNA fishing tricks.
Please keep us posted and let us know if they work!! I'm always up to
learn something new!

-assAssin-