{"id":270505,"date":"2026-05-14T05:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T05:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/270505\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T05:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T05:56:10","slug":"florida-fishing-rule-change-impacts-non-residents-buying-short-term-licenses-online-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/270505\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida fishing rule change impacts non-residents buying short-term licenses online"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brief<\/p>\n

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission no longer allows non-residents to buy short-term fishing licenses online.<\/p>\n

Those short-term licenses can only be purchased in person at a tax collector’s office or at a licensed agent location, which includes Walmart.<\/p>\n

Non-resident annual recreational fishing licenses are still available for purchase online.<\/p>\n

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission<\/a> is making changes to how non-residents get fishing licenses in Florida<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Non-residents can no longer buy three-day or seven-day saltwater licenses online or on the app.<\/p>\n

The backstory<\/p>\n

Non-residents must now buy the short-term licenses in person at a tax collector’s office or an authorized retail agent.<\/p>\n

\"<div>File:<\/p>\n

File: FWC boat. Image is courtesy of FWC.<\/p>\n

FWC told FOX 13 the licenses can be purchased at Walmart stores and more than 400 other locations.<\/p>\n

However, annual recreational fishing licenses for non-residents are still available online.<\/p>\n

What they’re saying<\/p>\n

FWC said that this change will help with several different things.<\/p>\n

Keep online sales simple and streamlined for our most popular licenses.<\/p>\n

Encourage responsible participation by reducing the number of short-term purchases made in a year.<\/p>\n

Support Florida\u2019s fisheries with license revenue, which directly funds conservation and management programs.<\/p>\n

By the numbers<\/p>\n

A three-day, non-resident license will cost anglers $17.<\/p>\n

While a seven-day license will cost $30.<\/p>\n

The other side<\/p>\n

There is a growing petition<\/a> online to urge FWC to restore reliable access to short-term fishing licenses.<\/p>\n

\"<div>Angler<\/p>\n

Angler at Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier.<\/p>\n

They claim that the situation directly impacts Florida’s economy, hurting state revenue and small businesses who are reliant on tourism and fishing activities.<\/p>\n

They believe this directly impacts small bait and tackle shops, freshwater fishing guides, charter captains and the economy.<\/p>\n

Big picture view<\/p>\n

On FWC’s 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

What you can do<\/p>\n

FWC added that anglers still have convenient access to buy short-term licenses in person.<\/p>\n

You can find a detailed list here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Source<\/p>\n

FOX 13 gathered the information for this story from FWC’s website, a statement from FWC, as well as an online petition for FWC to get rid of the new rules.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission no longer allows non-residents to buy short-term fishing licenses…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[84901,28,8659,30,29,4747,116051,116049,116047,116046,3254,116050,116048],"class_list":["post-270505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-fishing-licenses","tag-florida","tag-florida-fish-and-wildlife","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-fwc","tag-non-resident","tag-non-residents","tag-online-petition","tag-online-sales","tag-recreational-fishing","tag-saltwater-licenses","tag-tax-collector39s-office"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270505","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=270505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}