My last charter was two years ago right at the time the gov was implementing the new fishing registrations on the charter fleets. Just before my trip Moorings announced ALL of their fleet had been registered for fishing. Just got off the phone with them to ask about my upcoming charter in July and they said the license fee is $65 now and there is a registration fee of $50 for the boat! Now they say only crewed charters are covered by the registration and individual bareboat charters have to pay $50. Far as I know the license is still $45 and they are telling me $65, I'm assuming because they are recommending SailCaribbeanDivers.com to process it so there's likely the extra $20. I cannot believe how much I've been nickel and dimed this year! It's not a couple of hundred bucks, now I'm easily over $1,000 in all the increases for a crew of 6. I wonder if I don't pay Mooring's the $50 if the boat is actually registered with the BVI Gov and they are just trying to recoup fees?

If the charter companies want to help the local economy, maybe they can cut back on some of their fees? Everyone wants to help the locals but the charter companies are driving business away from the BVI's by charging these new fees. Geeze.

So what new fees have you nicked and dimes $1000? I am chartering with the Moorings again end of July and its all been pretty straight forward. We are paid in full and had no surprise fees.

How are the charter companies able to cut back on their fees?

Boat prices keep going up. Interest rates paid by owners are rising.

Insurance costs have doubled.

I'm not strictly placing the blame on Moorings. More the BVI gov than anything else. Steve27 the fees add up for a crew of 6 with everything from increased cruising tax to the tax placed on the cab drivers (St. Thomas airport but still). The alcohol taxes a couple of years ago. Little steep for fishing is all I'm saying. And the fishing pretty much sucks but I still enjoy it.

Bring some diving lures to avoid snagging mats of sargasso!

Update: Just got my license in the same day from cfd@gov.vg and it was $45. Did not need a registration number or name of the boat on the application. They didn't mention anything about Mooring's $50 fee. If two years ago, their entire fleet was registered, I have a hard time believing that it isn't still. No way are they going to keep registering boats to fish each charter so that fee is obviously an attempt to pass on the cost from two years ago. A Mooring's vacation rep in a phone conversation essentially agreed with me.

It does seem like a nickle and dime to pay ~$100 to fish and, iif you rent fishing a pole could drive the close to $150. I called Moorings today and got the same rate!!

Did you end up fishing? Not sure it is worth it, I'll be on a catamaran and suspect fishing to mention cleaning and cooking a fish will be to messy.IMHO

I understand that the $50 is an annual fee to register the boat. I am very surprised that they would charge the charterer this amount.

We've gotten fishing licenses for a couple of our crew on the last 3 trips. It's just not worth the hassle anymore. You shouldn't eat any reef fish you catch like mackerel, snapper, etc. You could eat a tuna or a mahi, but your chances of catching one are slim to none. We always go east, past the drop, between norman and cooper and we have never caught anything other than a barracuda. It's fun but not worth it.

Whether it's worth it or not is really only a choice you can make. If you are counting on fish to eat and to supplement your provisioning then I say no, BVI is not the place for that! Bahamas, definitely. I will be on a cat too but our trip isn't until July so no, I haven't fished yet but I did on our last trip two years ago. Only thing I caught were 3 remoras in Great Harbor on Jost just for fun off the back of the boat. You can't really eat any of the fish within the islands. On this trip, we'll be going to Anegada so I'm more hopeful for something fun to catch and good to eat which is why the cost is a little more worth it to me. I"m bringing a travel rod that fits in my duffle bag so that saves the cost of rental. Not sure what I'm doing about the $50 Mooring's fee since their rep basically said the boats are registered anyway. The travel rod is made by Okuma in case anyone wants to know. It's about $150 but comes in a nice travel case, very high quality and heavy duty with two different rod tip sections you can swap out for heavier or lighter action. Best places I've fished on island vacations were Anguilla and anywhere in the Bahamas! BVI one of the worst but I still like to fish while I'm just hanging out on the boat. One of those that can't sit still doing nothing.

Sounds like you could just get the fishing license independent of Moorings and be legal. If the boat is registered or not would be on Moorings.