[afterhours]

i was always against a saltwater fishing license fearing that the $$ would go into the states general fund to be squandered away. recently i became aware of the dingel-johnson act which places a 10% excise tax on almost all sportfishing gear at the manufactures level. these $$'s are then distributed back to the states based on numbers of fishermen, these numbers are calculated by licenses sold. in mass and ri we only have freshwater licenses. i'm sure that there are many times that in saltwater fishermen. more licenses= more $$ back to states.

Most conservation and angling groups give it very strong support, with some understandable differences of opinion on how the money should be spent. A source of controversy, but also a strength is the fact that states are given considerable freedom in setting priorities according to their local needs. Moreover, states must match the federal dollars, for every $3 in federal funds, the states must provide $1. Another issue is that some of these moneys are also spent to build and support hatchery programs.

Nevertheless, in the first 40 years of the program, over $460 million has been provided to state fish and game agencies to reclaim more than 330 lakes, totaling over 40,000 acres and to purchase over 110, 000 acres of fishing access areas. Likewise, there is a specific provision in the act that up to 10% may be used to teach kids about water resources and aquatic