Commercial Fishing from Kayak

I've been seeing a lot of folks talking about commercial licenses lately -- from youtubers to a few folks on NCKA talking about hearsay.  One of the youtubers goes as far as posting his catch to his IG stories to sell direct to consumers.  I don't have any issues with this, of course, but it did leave me curious about what the true costs are, so I reached out to CA DFW to ask about the complete regulatory picture for a recreational kayaker to go commercial for halibut in the SF bay -- working around bag limits and rod limits.  Here's what I found...

First, you need to get a Commercial Fishing License ($171.24) for yourself and anyone else that will be fishing on your kayak with you.  Since most people are fishing solo, I'll count it once.  Since you'll be fishing from a vessel, you'll need to get a Commercial Boat Registration ($443.50).  The CA DFW does not have different regulations for different sized vessels for this basic registration -- all kayaks are vessels and need to be registered.  However, you first need to show that your vessel is registered with the DMV (I'll use $42 even though I see wild swings in how much people pay).  Now you're ready to legally launch with your new commercial license.

But wait, there's more!  All fish caught under the authority of a commercial fishing license, even for personal use, must be landed and documented on an electronic fish ticket and submitted to E-Tix. Commercial fishermen must locate a licensed fish business willing to land their catch or they must possess a Fisherman’s Retail License to report their commercial fish landings through the E-Tix portal.  If you don't plan to sell to anyone but the general public (the Ultimate Consumer) or keep for yourself, you only need a Commercial Fish Retailer's License ($123.86).

In the end, we're talking $780 in fees, a trip to the DMV and filings with the CA DFW.  Then additional effort for each fish taken in order to land the fish in the E-Tix portal.

Whether that's attractive to you or not is subjective, of course, but that's the complete picture.  It's a lot more than buying another license in the online license sales portal, for sure.

Thanks for the info.
I would add there are tax benefits but also increased tax prep fees.

Please correct me if i am wrong. I believe you also need a transport license if moving fish from vessel to another location

. In the case of boats. You can sell off your boat directly otherwise you need the transport license or have a buyer come to your boat to purchase directly while in port.

Best bet is to call DFW. They were very helpful when i had questions on my commercial license. I was actually a deckhand last year for a few months.

Please correct me if i am wrong. I believe you also need a transport license if moving fish from vessel to another location

. In the case of boats. You can sell off your boat directly otherwise you need the transport license or have a buyer come to your boat to purchase directly while in port.

Best bet is to call DFW. They were very helpful when i had questions on my commercial license. I was actually a deckhand last year for a few months.

You nailed it with "Best bet is to call DFW."  I am definitely no expert in any way on this one.  I asked a very narrowly scoped question regarding commercial halibut fishing in the SF Bay via kayak since that's been the context I've seen it lately.  DFW was super helpful in response to my question.  I emailed [email protected] and received a response in under one hour.

How about limits? I talk to boaters with commercial licenses licenses at the SC harbor pretty regularly. I was under the impression that they have a limit of 5 halibut, whereas on NCKA someone posted that there are no limits. I don’t know where to look for that info online…

How about limits? I talk to boaters with commercial licenses licenses at the SC harbor pretty regularly. I was under the impression that they have a limit of 5 halibut, whereas on NCKA someone posted that there are no limits. I don’t know where to look for that info online…

In looking through the Commercial Fishing Regulations Digest, I only see mentions of size limit (same as rec at 22") when fishing by hook and line.  The regs get more complicated for other methods of take, it seems. 

not sure who said 5 was the commie limit but they're wrong. there's no limit and no quota on the fishery. you cant operate a business on 5 fish lol  you can catch more fish per rod with a rec license if that's true, 2 for 1 rod vs 5 fish for 4 rods commie (or 6 with 2 ppl) assuming sf bay regs here

there's a 5 fish rec limit south of pt sur.. maybe that is what was being referenced

as for taxes a lot of ppl who do this file their taxes and claim a loss on their business and deduct the loss.

How about limits? I talk to boaters with commercial licenses licenses at the SC harbor pretty regularly. I was under the impression that they have a limit of 5 halibut, whereas on NCKA someone posted that there are no limits. I don’t know where to look for that info online…

Definitely no limit for commercial halibut. A small commercial fisherman was posting on NextDoor a while back selling his halibut. One day he alone caught 79 fish.

I went online and then talked with someone to confirm and what I was told is a kayaker can buy a commercial license for 450.00$ and can use two poles and NO LIMITS. So this just confirms that if you pay extra money you get special treatment. When I talked to the two kayakers that upgraded to a commercial license, it was worth it for them to do this. I also asked, could you go on a party boat and fish with that commercial license and what I was told if the party boat operator lets you do this, than yes you can.This means the party boat will take you to the fish and you can fish, no limit and make the most on your 250.00 fee to use the boat. So again these agencies are more concerned with the commercial aspect of fishing, rather that the recreational fishing. So I have to wonder if in the larger picture a few will make this change to commercial license and this change will have more harm than good. What do you all think.

How about limits? I talk to boaters with commercial licenses licenses at the SC harbor pretty regularly. I was under the impression that they have a limit of 5 halibut, whereas on NCKA someone posted that there are no limits. I don’t know where to look for that info online…

Definitely no limit for commercial halibut. A small commercial fisherman was posting on NextDoor a while back selling his halibut. One day he alone caught 79 fish.

I find it hard to believe that anyone could catch 79 halibut hook-and-line in 1 day...

How about limits? I talk to boaters with commercial licenses licenses at the SC harbor pretty regularly. I was under the impression that they have a limit of 5 halibut, whereas on NCKA someone posted that there are no limits. I don’t know where to look for that info online…

Definitely no limit for commercial halibut. A small commercial fisherman was posting on NextDoor a while back selling his halibut. One day he alone caught 79 fish.

I find it hard to believe that anyone could catch 79 halibut hook-and-line in 1 day...

The video in the ad pans all around the boat and it's absolutely plugged with halibut. I think that's disgusting. This was not his first rodeo and there are plenty of other boats that do this. I know it's legal, but I still think it's gross.

I went online and then talked with someone to confirm and what I was told is a kayaker can buy a commercial license for 450.00$ and can use two poles and NO LIMITS. So this just confirms that if you pay extra money you get special treatment. When I talked to the two kayakers that upgraded to a commercial license, it was worth it for them to do this. I also asked, could you go on a party boat and fish with that commercial license and what I was told if the party boat operator lets you do this, than yes you can.This means the party boat will take you to the fish and you can fish, no limit and make the most on your 250.00 fee to use the boat. So again these agencies are more concerned with the commercial aspect of fishing, rather that the recreational fishing. So I have to wonder if in the larger picture a few will make this change to commercial license and this change will have more harm than good. What do you all think.

The $450 is only the commercial boat registration as outlined in my original post.  You still need the commercial license for each angler aboard at $171.24.  Then you need to land every fish -- either by bringing the fish to someone licensed to do so or by having your own license to add them to the E-Tix system.  I don't know who you talked to, but the regs are rather clear on this.  Also, yes, halibut is not one of the fisheries where you cannot combine sport and commercial fishing.

How about limits? I talk to boaters with commercial licenses licenses at the SC harbor pretty regularly. I was under the impression that they have a limit of 5 halibut, whereas on NCKA someone posted that there are no limits. I don’t know where to look for that info online…

Definitely no limit for commercial halibut. A small commercial fisherman was posting on NextDoor a while back selling his halibut. One day he alone caught 79 fish.

I find it hard to believe that anyone could catch 79 halibut hook-and-line in 1 day...

When I decked on a commercial halibut boat we fished 6 rods and had a few 100 fish days. That's commercial fishing. Seeing that first hand, being a big fish buyer for a long time (thousands of lbs/week), I still think party boats do more damage.

Is the commercial license tied to a species?  I know that commercial boat shave different seasons/area they can fish, but do they need specific permits for specific fish?