How much would you pay for a license tag increase?

Jennie@ifish · 11-01-2002, 09:16 AM

License Tag fee increase

Here is what I want you to do:
Pick someone that you know that fishes, yet is not a fishaholic. Could be a neighbor, a friend, or relative... just someone that isn't as neurotic about fishing as us ifishers... The casual fisherman or woman.
Now... answer for yourself, and then predict what their answer might be....
Thanks, we need to do this, because people know that we are neurotic and most would pay nearly anything to fish. But what about the casual fishermen?
Jen

Jennie@ifish · 11-01-2002, 09:19 AM

Think also, of the Charter people.
This kind of heavy increase can affect whether or not a group of people goes out on a charter.
I guess there is some kind of measure in the making of a "Group" boat license, from what I understand.
I think that would be a great idea.
Jen

V. Green · 11-01-2002, 09:31 AM

I don't agree with having a group license for Charter Boats.

Anyone who can afford a minimum $100 to go on a charter can afford the minimal increase that would go with a daily license.

Jennie@ifish · 11-01-2002, 09:35 AM

Maybe you are right... Not sure.
Interesting debate, though...
What about a family, who thinks... OK, got the price for a charter... I can afford it, I think...
Then, they get to the charter office and forget about the license fee. WOW! Guess they can't afford this after all!
It would be a group tag, I think... not a license.
Jen

husker · 11-01-2002, 10:44 AM

i think charter companies should provide day liscences as part of there service.......not as an extra charge.....same with guides........this is for the average joe who fishes once or twice a year with that type of service

foxer · 11-01-2002, 10:47 AM

I would pay a little extra if I knew where the $$ was going, ie hatcheries etc.

Miss B Haven · 11-01-2002, 10:52 AM

Up it Up it Up it! (but use the funds to Support fish) Way more $$$. Casual fishers can buy day licenses.

WP · 11-01-2002, 01:39 PM

I agree...up it a lot....we definately need the funding and day licenses or 3 day licenses fit the bill for the infrequent sport fisher. I am willing to put MY money where my mouth is too!
WP

SteelieSteve · 11-01-2002, 03:19 PM

Before I stamp ok to higher fees I want to know where the money goes. If this increase goes to hatchery funding, game enforcement and fish & game, fine. But if the increase goes to the general fund, no way. License and tag fees should be spent totally for fish & game. This revenue should not be spent to fund unrelated issues.

Captain and Marie · 11-01-2002, 03:57 PM

As far as I can tell there is NO Hatchery FUND.

And we need one to save our hatcheries.

And that doesn't look like it will EVER happen.

When our money goes into the General Fund, you are paying for everything else BUT Hatcheries.

Where am I wrong here?

Marie

Jennie@ifish · 11-01-2002, 04:16 PM

Received this in e mail:

I visited your site today and read your comments about the fish
hatcheries. I believe most honest fisherman
would be more than willing to contribute more moneys in the interest of
preserving the hatcheries but the problem is
that the funds collected from fisherman in the form of Tags and licenses
goes to the general fund. It is my understanding
that the sports anglers are ripped off in terms of less money actually goes
into the hatcheries than is actually
collected. In fact: This is part of the politics around closing the
hatcheries in the first place. Our governor is trying
to extort more money from all of us by threatening to close the hatcheries.
How could any one be so stupid ?
How much of our local economy depends on the vast amounts of money being
spent by anglers chasing Salmon ? I wouldn't
spend another penny on a tag if I wasn't sure it was being spent in the
right place. I already spend too much money on
fishing. I am not stingy but I am not a fool either. Closing the hatcheries
is like Cutting off your nose to spite your
face. Oregon is a fishing State and anyone in government that doesn't
cultivate that should be taken out and wiped.

Thanks;
I just needed to vent.

Fish-n-Fever · 11-01-2002, 04:18 PM

Iwould support a sizeable increase in hunting and fishing licsenses as well as tags IF and only IF the money was designated for fish and game and the policing of the same. I would NOT support any increase to go into a general fund as I know pumping $$ into a general fund is like supporting a telemarketer where, if your lucky 5% gets to where it belongs and the "marketer" pockets the rest. Gov waste is atrocious and unless $$ are alocated to a specific area and that area only. I will never trust a politician to save fish and game with a blank check.
Ron

fisheromen · 11-01-2002, 05:46 PM

I think most serious fisherman would gladly pay big bucks for their license if they knew it was all going towards fish.

Jerry Dove · 11-01-2002, 06:01 PM

GREAT!!!! These are the type of comments that we need. Jen be sure to hold onto these. We need to hear about 500 more just like it. Keep it up. Jerry

Point-of-Sale Clerk · 11-01-2002, 06:37 PM

Yeah Jen, so they can put them in a list like this:

http://www.dfw.state.or.us/ODFWhtml/...rev_writt.html

boater · 11-01-2002, 06:41 PM

i think when people say "up the price alot" they better wake up, look at the NBA, NFL and MLB, they have the prices so high that nobody goes to games, if you up the price to much alot of people wont be able to afford to buy tags and we could be in worse shape than we are now, it`s easy for "us" people with money to want to up the price but you realy need to be carefull.

bigfishon · 11-01-2002, 08:38 PM

Why not just fix the problem rather than complain about it? Come January 1st rather than buying a tag and licence boycot the state (this would take some doing but could be done) take your 30+ dollars each and put it into a fund. Buy out the exsiting hatcherys or buy riverfront land and build new ones. If you got the intrest of enough people (I for one don't think that would be hard) it could be done. If no one bought a licence or tag for next year and then lined the banks to fish in protest I think the point would be made that people are ticked off about where their cash has been going. Almost everyone you talk to who hunts or fishes is fed up with their money going into "the general fund" it don't do us no good so why are we paying up to them? If we ran the show you would have volunteers up to your neck trying to make it all work, and it would work in time.

[ 11-01-2002, 09:40 PM: Message edited by: bigfishon ]

sliverslinger · 11-01-2002, 11:11 PM

How many more fish are they going to cut us down by for the increase of the license and tags? we've already been cut down by half, are they going to cut us down by half again?
" pay 50.00 for a tag that is only good for 10 fish" All the money ODFW gets every year doesn't go to the wildlife and the fish, or does it? It doesnt make sense to me.
might have to move to washington where their gov't isnt so greedy.

[ 11-02-2002, 12:12 AM: Message edited by: sliverslinger2001 ]

sliverslinger · 11-01-2002, 11:17 PM

You cannot trust any politician, all they want is to get your vote. They will say anything to get it. Once they get into office, they do not hold up to what they have said.

If they up the prices on tags and licenses all they are going to do is make more outlaws.
You will see.

Chukrchaser · 11-01-2002, 11:29 PM

Prove to me that any fee increases in fishing &/or hunting licenses are going directly to ODFW for enhancement programs and I am all for it -- But it should not and can not replace the money from the general fund -- I don't mind paying for more fishing opportunity, I do mind paying more so that the bureaucrats can do more "studies" and form more committees.

Thumper · 11-02-2002, 06:04 AM

As an old guy I seem to recall paying a lot more in past years for my licenses, both here in Washington and for nonresident fees in Oregon. A lot more. It is pretty clear that most folks would gladly pay more if it kept the hatcheries alive.

Rubber Hooks · 11-02-2002, 06:31 AM

License fee increase, YES, if it is dedicated to the hatcheries and other related fishing needs. NO, if it is to go into the general fund.. We need to ensure that the politicians keep their meat hooks off of our fisheries money

Tom Meese

rob allen · 11-02-2002, 12:17 PM

I am absolutely opposed to giving any state agency any more money. They absoltuely do not need it! I especially would strongly oppose giving ODFW any more money if that money is spent on hatcheries! Hatcheries already account for the VAST!!!!! majority of the ODFW buget giving them more money is not going to improve my fishing in the least. 70+ dollars is enough!!!! I am more than happy to pay my fair share and i believe 70 dollars is more than enough. if it is raised for the purpose of maintaining the hatchery complex i will choose to no longer fish in Oregon , even though my favorite and productive river is there. Which is coincidentally the North Umpqua where this year I caught 12 steelhead 3 of which were hatchery.. I'd have been just as happy catching 9.. Also between the Deschutes and the Sandy thoes were the ONLY hatchery fish i caught..

V. Green · 11-02-2002, 06:16 PM

I wouldn't support more than a $5 increase. Not because I wouldn't pay $20 more but because the state would actually lose revenue from license sales. I also don't want all of the ODF&W budget to fund hatcheries, the other programs they do are important and need to be maintained. Probably one of the most important to me is the Stream restoration work they do.

Think of all the people who decide to buy annual licenses currently who only fish for a couple of days per year. These buyers would likely quit buying annual licenses and start buying daily or week licenses to cover the one-two day trips or for the single week that they currently fish.

If I am not mistaken (and Rob Allen or Dawhunt can probably correct me) Washinton used to charge almost double for its fishing license, sales went down. They lowered the fee and the sales went up. You can think of this like McDonalds does with its dollar menu, it makes more money with less margin by selling more items than it would with a higher margin and fewer sales.

big guy · 11-02-2002, 06:36 PM

I too would pay more if it went to help our sport and not the genral fund. I dont think the non fishaholic would pay a bunch more than he is now but 5 or 10 bucks would fly with a reason to justify it.just my 2cents

dogfishboy · 11-02-2002, 11:41 PM

Jen, having read your column at ifish.net, I would fully support a $20 fee increase. Your right, it's still good deal compared to lift tickets, greens fees, etc.

edit: In regards to silverslinger's first remarks, i'd like to see an increase in the tag limit to go along with the fee increase. Rubber hooks, I agree. There must be some accountability and the money must be ONLY FOR HATCHERY OPERATIONS AND UPGRADES

[ 11-02-2002, 12:50 PM: Message edited by: dogfishboy ]

Al Fish · 11-02-2002, 11:56 PM

I currently buy tag's in both Oregon and Washington. It is a little expensive,but I fish a great deal. I would gladly pay double if they would put that money into the Hatcheries in both states. Fishing is a big money maker and good for our local economy. I have also heard of a idea to sell an additional tag,so that a person could use two rods??? But still only catch their two fish a day. What do you think of that as a money maker??

Wright Angle · 11-03-2002, 02:39 AM

A fee increase could be hard on alot of sportsmen. When I was a young man with a new wife and mortgage it was hard for me to scrape up the money for my fishing license and tags each year, most of the time my dad would buy my license for me as a Christmas gift. I've lived on both sides of it, having to save for two or three paychecks just to take the wife and kids to McDonalds, To not worrying about how much it cost to go out to eat any time we want.

Now I have the means to buy my own license (Because I'm older)
More established in my life. I can afford new boats, better poles and reels... But I'm not sure I enjoy It as much as I did back then when it was just about the fishing, not how fancy and nice my equipment is. When I was young I loved my fishing so much that I would stand in the creek winter Steelhead fishing in tennis shoes because I could not afford waders. I fished with old broken glass poles and spinning reels because that's all I had. But you know what? It was good enough because I was doing what I loved, fishing!

We need to make sure that it doesn't become a rich man only sport.
Most of the peoples opinion on this board is to pay more because they have the money to pay more, just the fact that they have a computer and Internet shows that they have some money. We are not hearing from the people that are just getting by (no Computer or Internet) but still have a love for fishing.

I think the fees are high enough it's just that all the money needs to go to ODFW..No general fund.

[ 11-03-2002, 03:55 AM: Message edited by: Wright Angle ]

Michael E. · 11-03-2002, 06:34 AM

NO INCREASE IN THE COST OF A LICENCE OR TAGS.

If you really want to fix the problem put a percentage sales tax on all new fishing related items, including boats and motors. If you buy some corkies and yarn you pay a tax. If you buy a forty thousand dollar boat you pay a tax.

crabbait · 11-03-2002, 06:51 AM

I would gladly pay more for license and tags as long as the money went to hatcheries and stream restoration. No more money to the general fund!

SSPey · 11-03-2002, 08:08 PM

NOT ONE PENNY!!!

Hatcheries are part of the long-term problem, not the solution, and we feed the ODFW addiction by trying to keep them open

Gizmo Man · 11-03-2002, 08:27 PM

Good discussion, however, Or. should come across to WA and spend a little time to find out how WA about priced themselves out of the market.

As mentioned above, we as dedicated sportspeople would pay if it meant we would benefit. But what about the average guy who just buys a license to take their kid fishing on opening day. You would loose more of these folks and consequentialy loose not gain.

WA found this out. Tell your managers to visit the WA managers and not find out the hard way when they make it too expensive for the average guy. We are not the average guys and gals. We are on the other end of the bell curve.

Reduce the fees and make someone feel that they are getting a bargin and you will sell more licenses in volume. Increasing fees do not alway work the way you think....

Giz...

fish-on · 11-03-2002, 08:36 PM

I would pay up to $5 - $ 10 more ONly if i know the money was going directly towards the hatchery funding. mike

GoFish · 11-04-2002, 08:16 AM

I don't mind paying for what I use and benefit from, but I do mind paying for what I use when others are not. There are a lot of profit oriented businesses that draw revenue from the sport fishing crowd. Tackle manufacturers, fishing guides, hotel/motels, boat and motor manufacturers, retail outlets with fishng related departments, fly fishing shops, oh and don't forget the Army Corps of Engineers.

The point I'm trying to make here is that the person with a rod in their hand is not the only one with a vested interest in a healthy sport fishing industry. For my money, it would be a lot easier to swallow a fee increase if I could feel that all of the parties that benefit from sport fishing were paying their fair share. As things stand now, I don't have that feeling.

It seems like a common theme anymore to look to the end user for the dollars to support programs that benefit a large segment of society. As I'm writing this, I'm thinking of the parallel situation of charging parking fees to use the national forests. Many businesses and other segments of society have for years benefitted from hikers and backpackers buying products and services related to hiking, cross country skiing, backpacking, etc. But the user fees are the only costs that are rising or being newly implemented.

This seems to be another example of how the unorganized constituency, fractured and inneffective, turns out to be the weakest target.

SPORTFISHERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE.

This soap box is getting slippery and I have to get back to work now. Thanks sooo much for your time and attention.