Dear
Bass Fisherman:
By
law, fees paid by fishermen and hunters wind up in the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Department's (TPWD's) "Account
9," the Game, Fish and Water Safety
Fund.
Much
of the money ($39.9 million for Fiscal Year 2000) is used to pay game
wardens in the Law Enforcement Division to enforce state laws. The rest of
the
fees paid by sportsman pay for most of the other good things TPWD does.
Sportsman fees go to other divisions in the TPWD, including Communications,
Finance, Wildlife, Resource Protection, and the two fisheries divisions,
Inland
and Coastal. Sportsmen pay for most salaries and supplies.
Now
the TPW Commissioners are about to increase all our fees.
Sportsmen should complain about the overall use of these fees, because
Texası
lakes, streams, fisheries and anglers are not getting a fair share of what
we pay
for fishing licenses and stamps. Thatıs true for all sportsmen, especially
anglers,
but inland fishermen are getting the worst deal of all.
Neither
are our fisheries or our anglers getting a fair share of the federal
excise tax we pay every time we buy fishing equipment and certain boating
equipment--taxes sportsmen got Congress to implement years ago.
According
to the TPWD, ³anglers and commercial fishing operations²
supplied $40 million for Fiscal Year 2000. (The vast majority of that $40
million
came from recreational anglers.)
Anglers
also sent $12.5 million to TPWD via the federal excise tax.
So,
how much of our $52.5 million do you estimate
went to the Inland
Fisheries Division, the Coastal Fisheries Division, and the biologists who
care
for our fisheries resources? If you guess even 50%, youıll be w
only $19.9 million. The Inland Fisheries Division got $10.9 million, while
the
Coastal Fisheries Division got almost as much--$9 million. (Hunters provided
about $43 million, and the Wildlife/Conservation Division received $23
million of
that.)
In
the past, TPWD has asked constituent groups other than hunters and
anglers to pay fees to support endangered, threatened, nongame
species and
habitat. Each request has been rebuffed, so more and more sportsman money is
spent for non-sportsman-oriented items.
TPWD
has had some success getting park fees increased. And, the
general public does contribute via the $19.8 million from the state tax on
sporting goods. But fishermen, hunters and boaters pay that same tax, pay it
more often than the average Texan, and pay the same park fees.
Now
TPW Commissioners are talking about increasing fees again in 2003,
but only for fishermen, hunters, boaters and park users. They donıt even ask
the other constituent groups any more--neither do they ask the State of
Texas
for much General Revenue money.
Sportsmen
tired of years of such treatment should send a courteous note
to the chairman of the TPW Commission, Katharine Armst
School Road, Austin, TX 78744, fax her at 512/389-4814, or go to
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/doform?involved to send an e-mail. It
also
would help to send a copy to Gov. Rick Perry,
Essentially,
the current TPW Commission is a new one, and theyıre about
to hire a new executive director. A better time to try to get past mistakes
corrected may not occur for another decade.
Sincerely,
Alan Allen
Conservation Director