Can Sport Fish Be Donated To Charity for a Tax Credit?

October 19, 2017

Question: You mentioned in an article that sport fish cannot be assigned a value for donation purposes. I would appreciate a code/regulation that directly prohibits this for tax purposes. In San Diego we were given a form from Fisherman’s Processing with Federal Tax ID for registered 501(c)(3) charities. Is this a state regulation? It’s all very confusing and I would appreciate clarification as there is contradicting information floating around out there. (Paul G., San Diego)

Answer: It is unlawful to sell or purchase fish caught via a sport fishing license (FGC, section 7121). Therefore, fish taken via a sport fishing license cannot be easily assigned a monetary value. It would be very difficult to determine the fair market value of a sport-caught fish because sport fishing and commercial fishing are very different. However, there is a provision that does provide for the exchange of certain sport caught fish for filleted, smoked or canned fish (CCR Title 14, Section 231). This regulation only applies to a limited range of species though, primarily tuna, and they include: albacore, bluefin, yellowfin and bigeye tunas, as well as skipjack and yellowtail. This regulation may be helpful in determining the value of a donation if you decide to donate a portion of any of the above listed species to a qualified non-profit charitable organization.