Negron's bill killing fishing licenses may hurt more than it helps
How much is a fish worth?
Calculate it any number of ways, but lately each fish caught is more expensive. The rising costs of activities like fishing has resulted in less trips to the tackle shop, the pier, the beach, the lake and the boat.
But those trips are vitally important, not just to the small business owner, but also to the very fish being targeted.
Much of the equipment we buy so we can be successful anglers helps support the state's reputation as "Fishing Capital of the World." And one of the most important items needed to fish Florida waters is a fishing license.
Soon the fishing license may become a collector's item.
Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart filed a bill Tuesday proposing to remove Florida's requirement to carry a valid fishing license. The bill, SB 744, would cut out the license for resident and non-resident anglers in freshwater and saltwater.
Negron said Thursday "the mood of the citizenry is to contest the government's over-reaching claims of authority." He said obtaining a fishing license is "part of the ongoing effort of hassle and inconvenience of government" in our lives.
I'm all for less hassle. But a fishing license is a hassle that pays for itself.
What most of us don't realize is that a license is an investment in the future of our state's economically critical $7.5 billion recreational fishing industry.
A Florida fishing licensee generates $7 for sport fish restoration projects. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pays it as part of the Wallop-Breaux amendment (1984) to the Federal Aid to Sport Fishing Restoration Act (1950).
Those funds accrue quickly with 2.7 million resident and visiting anglers.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's website, Florida received $13 million in these funds in 2008. It helped pay for boat ramps, fresh and saltwater fisheries habitat restoration, fish stocking, law enforcement, artificial reef construction and fishing clinics.
And that was in addition to the $38.8 million in state license revenue.
Negron and his six older brothers grew up fishing Palm Beach County waters. He remembers the simplicity of fishing before the state had a saltwater license.
He recognizes the FWC as an "important and essential agency." As Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee, he believes funds to manage 575 species of wildlife, 200 species of native freshwater fish and 500 species of native saltwater fish can be found in the state's $70 billion budget.
"The state's other law enforcement agencies are not funded by variable revenue streams like license fees," Negron said. "So why should the FWC be?"
Agreed. But don't eliminate an added investment in the future of our fisheries.Read More ...
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