[Baskett-o-fish]

saw this on KATU.com

Oregonians would need to buy a license for $5 a year to harvest clams, crabs and other shellfish under a bill approved by the Senate on Tuesday.

No license is currently needed. The measure was approved 21-8 and now goes to the House.

SB 597 is among numerous bills in this legislative session to impose new fees to help pay for services that have traditionally relied on other state funds.

Analysts estimate license fees would yield about $1 million in each two-year budget for various programs including protection and enhancement of shellfish stocks as well as enforcement of existing harvest limits.

The funds would add a shellfish biologist position in the Fish and Wildlife Department.

The money also would help pay for state Agriculture Department shellfish testing that determines when eating shellfish is unsafe because of toxic shellfish diseases.

Sen. Charlie Ringo, D-Beaverton, said he enjoyed crabbing as a youth along the Oregon Coast and protested charging people for a popular recreational activity.

But Sen. Joan Dukes, D-Astoria, said besides testing for disease, research is being done on improving stocks.

"There really is a lot of science going on," she said.

The license would be required also for sport harvesting of mussels, oysters, scallops and shrimp but not for freshwater clams or crawfish.

 

[seeseered]

It is about time.

 

[lost_sailor]

5 bucks is nothing - have you ever bought a crab?

Count me in.

 

[Baskett-o-fish]

I buy one in Washington already. I dont see why Oregon would need to be different. I fish in both Washington and Oregon. An extra $5.00 is well worth the amount of seafood I take home. $5.00 doesnt even buy one crab at the store.

 

[TheRogue]

 

[Abalone]

Ninety Five percent of all ALL AVAILABLE Crab go to Commercial Harvest.
Ok we need some more money for our outdoor recretional Shellfish.
Let the consumer pay for it.
Will the money they get have any benificial effect on the Shellfish in the State of Oregon ?
I doubt it.
Nickle dimed to death I say.
Next year it will be $10.00 and on and on.
How much do I have to pay to take a walk in the woods ?
Disneyland used to charge for each ride, then they got wise and started charging a one time fee
at the gate.
All they say is they are going to charge a new fee. Where's the money going ? Testing ! They are already doing that. New Shellfish Cops ! We have OSP for that.

Have you seen Diver Dan there in the bottom of Tillamook bay. He takes more clams in a day than all the other Clam diggers do on a typical low tide. How much does he contribute to the
kitty ? There used to be a nice bed of Steamers on the Bottom of Nehalem bay but the C-Divers cleaned it out a few years ago. There are no doubt a few but The State wouldn't stop them no matter how many they took. Just exactly what does the State do to effect Shellfish.
It's just like the Upland Game stamp. Did the upland bird population and the hunting opportunities improve since Oregon started that program ? Maybe for a few private Ranch
hunting clubs.

Do I support our hatchery program ? You bet and I am glad to pay extra for my fishing lisence


Great job Ifish.

[ 07-30-2003, 10:13 AM: Message edited by: Abalone ]

 

[seeseered]

OK, so how about if we require a fishing license to take shell fish. I think the five bucks would be a better deal for those that just want to crab or clam.

 

[Abalone]

Originally posted by seeseered:
The crab/clam only crowd contribute nothing toward expenses of the enforcement of the laws that apply to the resource. Like it or not we are becoming a user fee based recreaion system. So if you want to play with shell fish why shouldn't you pay like the rest of us?

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">Correction: The Crab/Clam only Crowd contribute plenty. They buy gas, Traps, Bait, Budwieser
and probably own an RV bought in Oregon, and pay fees at the park or at places like Jetty fisheries
which in turns feeds the Coast economy, which contributes Thousands if not millions of Dollars to the General fund which is where all the money from Fishing liscense, tags and permitt end up anyhow and then a small fraction goes back to the fishery program, health department and other
agencies that get underfunded. Conclusion. If all the existing money that goes into our outdoor
recreational activities went directly to Fish and Wildlife we would be in heaven.
What the hell we are in heaven anyhow.

Personally I can afford to pay and would be willing to pay plenty for what we all enjoy in Oregon.
There are a lot of folks on low income that love the outdoors that cannot afford to pay out more.
Fifty years ago the outdoors was a poor mans recreation because everything was free. Now you have to have a pretty high income to buy a boat and pay at every camp ground RV rates even if all
you own is a tent. Unemployement is high in Oregon. Why make it harder on the population
when things are down ?

[ 07-30-2003, 02:06 PM: Message edited by: Abalone ]

 

[garyk]

I don't mind paying my share, however, with all my license, fees, and tags - I feel I am.

Originally, the shellfish license was floated as a method to get the non-fishing-license-buying crowd to contribute to management which includes enforcement and testing. Originally, you would have needed either a fishing license or a shellfish tag.

Unfortunately, this concept has morphed into another tag on top of all the others fisherman already buy.

 

[brshooter]

I really don't mind paying the fee for the shellfish tag. I do have concerns as to how the state will use it though. Seems like when an agency gets the opportunity for some additional funding, the legislature will just reduce the portion of the general fund allocated to that agency by that amount so that they really don't realize any gain.

I do know how many Washington state license plates I see when I am down digging razor clams. It will be nice to see them paying for their share. They charge us when we go up there.

 

[chummer]

Abalone: You make it sound like the poor unemployed oregonian needs the shell fish for subsistence. If that's the case, perhaps a re-evaluation of priorities is in order. let's see here.....a tank of gas down and back to the coast, the case of budweiser, the traps, the bait, the boat rental, it all adds up! If it's that close, forget the trip and go to food for less and buy the groceries!

I would like to see it become a part of the sports pac, might be just enough incentive for some to buy it.

I think I read earlier that the average shellfish liscence was around $30, so $5 is no bad at all!

 

[Jacks or Better]

No problem with the fee. My wife wanted a crab while we were at Costco the other day. $8. I go into GI Joes or Fishermans and know that I don't need a thing. Somehow I drop $5 - $10 and don't think anything of it. I've even bought $5 lures that have never caught anything. We're all dropping a few bucks here or there on a daily basis and I bet we can justify it. To lay down a $5 bill to crab & clam all year - what a deal. Besides, they aren't charging us to go crawdadding.

 

[Salmon Loser]

It is not the five bucks. It is the fact that it was the last thing you could go and do and not have to have a tag for. It is just like the increase to the hunting tags for next year. It is not about the money. It is about our reprsentives in Salem that can't make the hard decisions so they increase fees or add new fees. Just so they can take part of the money for some pet prodject that gets them relected. It has nothing to do with widlife or shellfish. Just my .02

SL

 

[pole bender]

I don't mind paying $5 either, but I agree with what SL is saying.

 

[Wood N' Fish]

Great New's!!!!!! How about regulating yhe commercial folks, who sell razors for crab bait!!!

 

[Fish_N_Russ]

I think a FEE BASED system is just fine. If you want to use something, then you pay for it. I wish more programs were like this, as I dont feel the need to pay for many social giveaway programs that I will never use (another topic I know) but I do, along with almost everyone else.

$5 is just fine as long as it doenst creep up in a couple years.

 

[Clamman]

Legislators and citizens agreed that the requirement of just having a fishing license did not generate enough revenue to do the necessary testing, enforcement, and resource management. The numbers I got from ODFW for just a fishing license came to about 150K to 200K a year. The seperate tag generates more than double that.

On another note, ODFW might not get their biologist for almost two years since they have to pay almost 200K to update their license *** machines. Seems the ODFW director is willing to loan ODA and OSP the money immediately but willing to supress his own agencies recreational shellfish management :whazzup: .


Clam

 

[Abalone]

I just don't think that a new license is driven by a need that has anything to do with the well being
of the Shellfish. It's another creative way for our legistlators to Bilk more money out of us because
it's easier, sneakier and no one is going to oppose a small bill like this that 90 percent of the population doesn't care about anyhow. The last I heard no one is complaining about the Clams,
the crabs or any Scallops. The only problem I have is with people pulling my traps and stealing
my bait or my pots. Like I said before it is the Nickle Dime stradegy Oregon has everytime you turn
around.

[ 07-30-2003, 12:43 PM: Message edited by: Abalone ]

 

[seeseered]

The crab/clam only crowd contribute nothing toward expenses of the enforcement of the laws that apply to the resource. Like it or not we are becoming a user fee based recreaion system. So if you want to play with shell fish why shouldn't you pay like the rest of us?

 

[seeseered]

oops (Recreation)