On 3/27/2011 9:12 PM, Frogwatch wrote:
Yesterday, I was talking to my brother who is big in the FL Wildlife
Federation and he was going ballistic over some state pol who wants to
do away with fishing licenses. He did not seem to know why this pol
wants to do this. I suggested that maybe the pol thought fishing
licenses caused lost revenue due to tourists not wanting to buy an
expensive temporary license. I also explained mu frustration with not
knowing whether I am in Fl or GA when I am on Lake Seminole so decided
not to fish there.
So, all you fishermen, do you see having to get a license as a
possible deterrent to someone wanting to fish and thus lost revenue to
local businesses?
Licenses to hunt and fish smack of the reasons some of our ancestors
came to America.
The licenses are not token contributions now days.
It cost over a hundred dollars just for a Resident, in our State for the
different licenses and tags and stamps. Out of State in many places can
now run into the thousands even though it is on public lands owned by
all Americans.
A few years ago Outdoor Magazine got the ball rolling on a Sal****er
license. Now NOAA wants its own version.
We can't go to our public owned state parks or
Federal without spending a significant amount of money. This was all to
crest some income for private enterprise operators and a lot of baloney.
I proposed a 2 mil or so, It's been a while, on each bottled drink etc
within the state several years ago for Fish and Game, at that time. It
would have provided so much money no other fees would have been really
necessary. A Beer Distributor Governor nixed it as he did several
acquisitions of lands for sportsmen.
Missouri was the model. I don't know if they still have it but they have
costly license fees now.
I'm opposed to License Fees and admission fees and access fees for
United States Citizens to have access and utilize their own resources
and national treasures.
Our public resources are not for generating income for private operators
and government agencies. We pay taxes. Instead of rewarding cronies with
access roads to shopping malls etc a small portion of it would provide
for the expenses of maintaining and operating our resources. OUR RESOURCES.