Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman
The "free" reg this year and the "$10" fee next year in MA is the same as the cable company giving you free service for the first two months and adjusting the fees downstream.
MA will substantially increase their fees, you can bet your bottom dollar on that. This is currently a loss leader to get you in the door.
This entire registration thing is a farce. It will never be implemented correctly. Few will get the lic and out of the ones that do fewer still will properly report. Little useful info will be gathered and the few will pay the fees for the many. There is not enough policing of fisherman with lic's now...how are they going to enforce this? Most people I know are ignoring this entire lic thing. Utter waste of time and money IMO.
The only thing this does is kill is the single mom who walks in to the local tackle store on a hot summer day with a little kid who has been begging her to take him fishing... We have all seen this each and every summer.... I smile when do as I had the same fishing itch when I was a kid....she doesn't know a thing about fishing and walks in to a local shop with the idea she can pick up a couple cheap kid's combos for her and her the kid, some bait, and some free advice on where to take this kid so he can catch a scup or two and feel good about himself and life in general. The mom hears another $20-80 bucks for a sw lic and says frig this and takes him out for ice cream. This lic SUCKS IMO.  And this is all because the various fishery departments can't manage their way out of a paper bag. This lic will not be their savior.
In fact I believe it will cost society more in terms of social costs in the longer run...the good kid that wanted to go fish off the town pier with his mom will now be forced into seeking alternative social activities which as we all know have negative pitfalls... things that lead to drugs, crime and eventually prison. Let people fish for free, teach them about protecting the resource. |
I'll bet that you didn't know that even freshwater and hunting/sportsman license fees can't be tapped into for the general fund, in Massachusetts. And that interest generated by the fund's deposits must also be put back into the fund:
Chapter 131: Section 2C. Inland fisheries and Game Fund; funding sources; appropriations
Section 2C. Monies received by the commonwealth from license fees, permit fees and from any and all sources pertaining to inland fishing, hunting and trapping from permit fees under section 22A, from any sale authorized in section 6 and sums received by the commonwealth from the federal government as reimbursement, grants in aid or other receipts on account of activities of the division, shall be credited on the books of the commonwealth to a fund to be known as the Inland Fisheries and Game Fund except that sums received for natural heritage and endangered species programs shall be credited to the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Fund, established in section 35D of chapter 10; provided, however, that $1 from the sale of each sporting, fishing, trapping and hunting license shall be credited to the wildland acquisition account established in section 2A.
All unexpended balances remaining in the Inland Fisheries and Game Fund at the end of each fiscal year shall be appropriated only for the purposes of developing, maintaining, managing, operating and administering the division of fisheries and wildlife. The fund, subject to appropriation, shall be used only as follows:-
(1) for the payment of general administrative expenses of the division;
(2) for acquiring, maintaining or leasing public fishing rights on land, on inland streams and ponds, including stream management and the creation of new ponds;
(3) for acquiring, maintaining or leasing public hunting rights on land;
(4) for biological surveys of inland waters;
(5) for propagation of game birds and fish;
(6) for salvaging and distributing game birds and fish;
(7) for acquisition and maintenance of wildlife sanctuaries and fish and wildlife management areas;
(8) for maintaining water resources to provide an adequate water supply for wildlife;
(9) for maintaining sources of food for game birds;
(10) for payment not to exceed 50 per cent of the amount necessary for personal services and other expenses for and on account of the enforcement of laws relating directly to inland fisheries and game, such amounts to be determined by the commissioner of administration;
(11) for the acquisition, by purchase, lease, easement or license, of land or interests therein critical to nongame wildlife and endangered species for the multiple purposes of protecting and enhancing nongame wildlife and encouraging compatible wildlife uses;
(12) for the management, inventory, preservation, protection, perpetuation, and enhancement of nongame wildlife and endangered species in the commonwealth;
(13) for supplementing funds provided to the natural heritage and endangered species program for the purpose of aiding in the protection of rare, threatened and endangered species in the commonwealth; and
(14) for other general purposes of the division.
The State Police already set their sights on SW license funds under the guise of "enforcement", and they were shot down. They do almost no fisheries law enforcement. If MSP couldn't glom onto the money, I doubt another agency could.
I don't believe that any governor has successfully tapped into the Inland Fisheries and Game Fund and diverted a penny to the general fund.