Moving to North Carolina

Hello everyone, my name's Erica, and I currently keep Elassoma gilberti. I am moving to North Carolina in July/August to attend graduate school and I have two questions.

1. Do I need to buy a fishing license?

2. If I do, do I buy a visitor's license? How long does one need to live in North Carolina before one can buy the resident's license?

I personally do not think I should have to buy a fishing license because E. gilberti is not a fish that you can collect in any of the waters of North Carolina. It is neither native nor introduced there. So since you can't possibly collect it by fishing, my reasoning is I shouldn't need a fishing license for it. But I remember that people told me to buy an Ohio fishing license (I currently live in Ohio) when I first got native fish, and I did, because I try to be a law abiding citizen. But it doesn't make sense to me why I should have to, because you can't possibly get this fish by fishing in the state.

So, that's why I'm asking this question. I tried looking at the links in the North Carolina fishing regulations section, but they didn't say anything about this.

Edited by EricaWieser, 28 April 2011 - 11:56 AM.

Erica:

You do not need any type of license to keep native fish (or non-native for that matter)in your home in North Carolina. If you want to go and collect local NC fish, then you will need to get a fishing license or go with Gerald or myself who have scientific collecting permits.

Fritz

Edited by fritz, 28 April 2011 - 01:55 PM.

Thank you for the quick response, Fritz