The New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife (Division) has officially merged the free saltwater angler registry (saltwaterregistry.nj.gov) database into the freshwater fishing and hunting platform (nj.aspirafocus.com/internetsales) to provide what the Division is calling a ‘one stop shopping’ experience for all hunters and anglers.
At the January 4th meeting of the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council, the Division’s Assistant Commissioner, Dave Golden, explained how the original saltwater angler registry system launched in 2011 to fulfill federal requirements under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 was administered independently of the other outdoor permitting requirements.
“For about the past year we’ve been working to incorporate all fields necessary or desired into our electronic licensing system,” said Golden, explaining how the state had worked to merge the free registry with the paid licensing system. “It made sense to bring these all together so they’re all in one place,” he said.
During the regular council meeting in Galloway Township on January 4, Golden explained the key benefits of this fully integrated system from the state’s perspective, which included better capabilities to contact hunters and anglers, while also providing enforcement officers with immediate on-water access to a single database of hunters and anglers.
“They can get on their computers and have immediate access to all the information about the person that’s sitting in front of them, assuming they have the registry,” said Golden, explaining how enforcement officers can immediately learn the history of that particular person including licensing history, and whether the person has any previous violations or license revocations, even in other states. “It’s a big benefit to having that at our law enforcement’s finger tips,” Golden said.
For those who’ve only ever registered with the Division to fish in marine waters in the Garden State, you’ll notice immediately upon attempting to get your updated saltwater registration for 2024 that you must start from scratch as a new user, a complication that Golden and his staff discovered upon the system rollout back in mid-December. “If you’ve never purchased a hunting license or freshwater fishing license you need to set up a new account, it gives you a Conservation ID Number (CID#) that will stick with you for life,” Golden said.
The migration of the databases also means that saltwater anglers now must comply with requirements under the Child Support Program Improvement Act, which compels the Division, and any other state agency, to obtain social security numbers and only issue licensing or permits to individuals who are not in arrears with their child support obligations.
“When I first became director I wondered why are we collecting social security numbers, why are we collecting driver’s licenses for hunting licenses,” said Golden, adding “The reason we do is that we’re required to through statute for child support.”
First time license system users will need to establish a customer account and be assigned a life-time CID#) on the site, and upon completion of the Child Support Certification any licenses or registrations can be managed online. Remember that saltwater registration certificates will not be mailed and will need to be printed from the licensing page on your home or office computer.
If you have questions, contact Marine Fisheries staff by emailing [email protected] or by phone at 609-748-2020. To secure your hunting and fishing license, and/or registration stamps required for 2024 go to nj.aspirafocus.com/internetsales. You can also go to saltwaterregistry.nj.gov and click the Register button to complete the process.
