“More than a million residents of Estonia already have an ID card, but this also means that there over 300,000 who don’t,” explained Herki Tuus, Chief Specialist with the Fisheries Department of the Ministry of the Environment. “I’m happy to be able to announce that they too can now pay for recreational fishing permits using their mobile phones. This applies to foreign tourists in the country as well.”
The permits enter force two hours after the mobile payment is made and confirmation is sent by SMS. A similar text message is sent when the permits expire.
The mobile payment option was developed in the hope that more people will begin fishing legally who have either not gone fishing at all to date because of a lack of Internet access or a printer or a handy bank branch or who have gone fishing regardless, without acquiring a permit.
“Initial analysis of the mobile payment system shows that it has been pretty popular among younger fishing enthusiasts, and it doesn’t seem to have deterred the older generation either,” Tuus said. He added that the fact that more women are going fishing than was previously thought is also a positive sign.
More information about recreational fishing permits and mobile payments is available on the Ministry of the Environment’s website at http://www.envir.ee/2107.
For further information please contact: Brita Merisalu (10.10.2008) |
