{"id":270203,"date":"2026-05-14T00:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T00:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/270203\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T00:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T00:37:08","slug":"florida-fishing-rule-change-impacts-non-residents-buying-short-term-licenses-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/270203\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida fishing rule change impacts non-residents buying short-term licenses online"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">TALLAHASSEE, Fla. &#8211; The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/organization\/fwc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission<\/a> is making changes to how non-residents get fishing licenses in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Florida<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Non-residents can no longer buy three-day or seven-day saltwater licenses online or on the app.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">The backstory:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Non-residents must now buy the short-term licenses in person at a tax collector&#8217;s office or an authorized retail agent.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/FWC-STOCK-IMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"File: FWC boat. Image is courtesy of FWC.\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\">File: FWC boat. Image is courtesy of FWC.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">FWC told FOX 13 the licenses can be purchased at Walmart stores and more than 400 other locations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">However, annual recreational fishing licenses for non-residents are still available online.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What they&#8217;re saying:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">FWC said that this change will help with several different things.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> Keep online sales simple and streamlined for our most popular licenses.Encourage responsible participation by reducing the number of short-term purchases made in a year.Support Florida\u2019s fisheries with license revenue, which directly funds conservation and management programs. <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">By the numbers:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">A three-day, non-resident license will cost anglers $17.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">While a seven-day license will cost $30.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">The other side:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">There is a growing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.change.org\/p\/urge-fwc-to-restore-reliable-access-to-short-term-fishing-licenses\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">petition<\/a> online to urge FWC to restore reliable access to short-term fishing licenses.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/WTVT-Still-2023-05-15-09h08m38s983.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\">Angler at Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">They claim that the situation directly impacts Florida&#8217;s economy, hurting state revenue and small businesses who are reliant on tourism and fishing activities.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">They believe this directly impacts small bait and tackle shops, freshwater fishing guides, charter captains and the economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">Big picture view:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">On FWC&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/myfwc.com\/license\/recreational\/visitors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">website<\/a>, they say a saltwater fishing license and permit are not required if you fish from a for-hire vessel (guide, charter or party boat), you fish from a vessel whose operator has a valid recreational saltwater vessel license, you fish during a free saltwater fishing day, or you fish from a pier with a valid saltwater pier license.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What you can do:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">FWC added that anglers still have convenient access to buy short-term licenses in person.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">You can find a detailed list <a href=\"https:\/\/license.gooutdoorsflorida.com\/Licensing\/LocateAgent.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: FOX 13 gathered the information for this story from FWC&#8217;s website, a statement from FWC, as well as an online petition for FWC to get rid of the new rules.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Florida<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/organization\/fwc\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FWC<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. &#8211; The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is making changes to how non-residents get fishing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[47,28,30,29,4747,115,1536,628],"class_list":["post-270203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-fwc","tag-news","tag-organization","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}