Fish and Boat deciding how to use revenues when license fees rise

That splash you heard July 10 was caused by the biggest change in funding of the state’s aquatic wildlife management since the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission was founded in 1866.

The unfunded agency, which had not seen a license fee increase since 2005, may now set its own license fees.

House Bill 808 required the Fish and Boat Commission to set license and permit fees with legislative oversight and included a five-year sunset law that would allow legislators to reverse their decision without a vote if they disapprove of how it has been managed.

Throughout years of legislative debate, Gov. Tom Wolf has said he believed the matter of fishing license fees should be solved by the General Assembly. Days after the legislature passed the bill, the governor’s staff was said to “have some issues” with the language in part of the bill. The bill automatically became law when it remained on the governor’s desk without signature for two weeks.

Kathryn Zerfuss, Mr. Wolf’s deputy secretary of legislative affairs, said the way the bill was written “causes an extra burden on the commission to help manage its finances.”

“Under the act, the Fish and Boat Commission has to wait the longer of 30 calendar days or 10 legislative session days for action by a legislative committee,” she said. “This could ... provide the General Assembly the opportunity to hold up the regulatory process by not convening session days.”

Ms. Zerfuss said that under the process set up by the act, Fish and Boat will not be able to move forward with its regulation of license fees until after the expiration of the time set by the General Assembly. She said the governor supported the bill but did not sign it, allowing it to become law “for process purposes.”

Since the bill’s passage June 29, some conservation organizations have quibbled about the amount of new revenue that would be directed to Lake Erie fisheries improvements, including the acquisition of streamside properties for steelhead anglers. That debate continues.

The matter is expected to be discussed at the commissioners’ next quarterly business meeting July 20. Due to COVID-19, the meeting will be held online and can be viewed live on Fish and Boat’s Facebook page.

Hunting revenue flat

Retail revenues for hunting and shooting declined 8% in 2019 across all categories, according to a new market report by Southwick Associates. The market research company released a report last week that said overall revenue remained in line with 2018 at $19.5 billion.

“Firearms and ammunition stabilized in mid-2019, then started showing slight gains in units sold for the remainder of the year, with handgun ammunition showing double-digit increases in both unit and dollar sales,” said Nancy Bacon, a vice president at Southwick Associates.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, outdoor recreation is one of the few activities considered safe when precautions are taken. This year’s “unprecedented” expansion in hunting and shooting sports activity is expected to offset flat revenues in 2018-19.