Interested in opening a charter boat business in the Florida Keys? Merely having a licensed boat is not enough. There is a separate charter boat licensing or charter captain licensing requirement from Florida Fish & Wildlife that must be fulfilled if you want to carry paying customers on a boat for the purpose of scoring any saltwater fish or saltwater organism. When they say “paying” they even mean indirectly.
First of all, you have to comply with all U.S. Coast Guard requirements and they will require you to have a Captain license/Merchant Mariner Credential. You will need the commercial designation documents before you can purchase a license for the charter boat license or the charter captain license.
FFW Charter Boat Licenses
These licenses are vessel specific. They are a license for a particular commercially registered boat. They must have been inspected by the Coast Guard. Here is the break down of the available charter boat licenses:
1-4 customers: $201.50
5-10 customers: $401.50
11 or more customers: $801.50
Additionally, for vessels with more than six customers, a charter snook permit would be $10.00 and a charter lobster permit would be $5.00.
FFW Charter Captain Licenses
Charter captain licenses follow the captain between vessels. In order to get a charter captain license, you’d also need to already have a valid License to Operate or Navigate Passenger Carrying Vessel License from the USCG. This doesn’t mean the licensed captains can use any boat though. The boat must be commercially registered or have a commercial designation from the Coast Guard too.
Here is the break down of the available charter captain licenses:
1-4 customers: $201.50
5-10 customers: $401.50
11 or more customers: $801.50
Additionally, a charter snook permit would be $10.00 and a charter lobster permit would be $5.00.
How To Get Cleared By The Coast Guard
In order to get a Coast Guard Captain’s license, call 888-426-5662 and they can get you more details. Meanwhile to get more information on the getting the vessel authroized by the USCG, follow this link.
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