Everything to Know About NY Commercial Fishing Permits

Do you have a passion for fishing? If so, you have probably thought about leaving the office life behind and earning your living out on the water. While commercial fishing does allow you to work outside doing what you love, you should understand that it is also quite difficult to work. You will need to spend long stretches of time away at sea–sometimes for days at a time–handling heavy and dangerous equipment. Additionally, you may need to contend with rough seas and climate weather. The good news is, for those willing to brave such difficult work conditions, there can be quite a bit of money to be made. Commercial fishing is a multi-billion dollar global industry, and there are many operations that are based in New York. If you think you might be ready to join the ranks of Empire State commercial fishermen, you may want to learn a thing or two about NY commercial fishing permits.

When the average individual thinks of New York–especially New York City–they likely imagine a bustling hub of commerce and activity. While this is of course true, New York is also situated on some prime territory for commercial fishing. From the Hudson River out to the Atlantic Ocean, there are plenty of opportunities for enterprising industrial fishing operations. Before you think about leaving the dock and casting your lines, however, you are going to want to make sure that your paperwork is in order, which means working with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and, potentially, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Getting Your NY Commercial Fishing Permits at the State Level

When thinking about which permits your business will need to commercially fish in New York, there are a couple of key considerations to make. For starters, you will want to determine where you will be fishing. This is important as different permits are required for state and federal waters. In New York, the area from shore to three nautical miles out is under the jurisdiction of the state. To fish on these waters, you will need to obtain proper commercial fishing licensing from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

In New York, within the Department of Environmental Conservation is the Bureau of Marine Resources–this is the agency that you will primarily obtain your state-level permits from. New York offers a fairly broad range of commercial fishing permits, some examples of which include: commercial lobster, horseshoe crab, blue mussel, and quahog. Most permits are offered to both residents and non-residents alike, though non-residents can expect to pay a premium. 

You can obtain your NY commercial fishing permits via a couple of different avenues. You can contact the DEC directly, and they will assist you in tracking down paper copies of the applications that you require. You can then complete them by hand, and mail them back to the DEC’s offices for processing. Of course, you can also save yourself time and energy by working with us at the Commercial Fishing Permits Center. We are a private service that allows you to apply for all of the permits you need using our easy-to-read web forms and SSL-encrypted portal.

Obtaining NOAA Commercial Fishing Permits

If you are starting a commercial fishing operation in New York, chances are good that you may find yourself in federal waters from time to time. This is technically the area from three to 200 nautical miles from shore, and it is regulated by the NOAA. To simplify things a bit–since they manage roughly 100,000 miles of U.S. coastline–the NOAA offers various federal fishing licenses by region. In New York, the most applicable region would be the Atlantic.

Within the NOAA’s Atlantic subsection there are a number of different licenses available. You can acquire licenses for Atlantic bluefish, spiny dogfish, monkfish, summer flounder, deep-sea crab, mackerel, and much more. Getting your federal fishing permits will call for you to work with the NOAA. You can visit their website and from there source the correct PDF application for the license you need. You can then print it out and mail it back to their offices for processing. It is worth considering, though, that if you need multiple permits that process could become a bit of a bureaucratic hassle. You can use our website instead to apply for all of the permits you need.

Get Your Fishing Licenses Online Today!

Whether you need state or federal commercial fishing licenses, we offer one-stop shopping on our website. Take a moment or two to browse our offerings–we make it easy to locate the permits you need, and with just a handful of personal details, you can submit your applications in a matter of minutes. To learn more, visit our Frequently Asked Questions page, or contact us by email or phone today.