_sports_

outdoors with Lou Rodia Salt Water License Threat Revived Again

Here we go again. Once again the handwriting on the wall is plain. Sit on your hands and not let someone know how you feel and you will be fishing in the very near future in salt water with a license in one hand and a book of regulations in the other. The Salt Water License is alive and well and may be coming soon. Once again, the license has arisen from the dead. No matter how effectively it seems to have been killed in the past, someone always manages to bring it back to life. In the first go-round with the current federal budget, the word is that there is a $10 federal license being proposed. It is estimated that this proposal will raise $20 million. Half of the money is being dangled to the states in an effort to get support for the measure. BUT THERE IS a clinker

; in the proposal. By 1989, it i is expected that the license will raise $50 million. Now, t there are only two ways to i raise two and half times as r much money as would be raised in the first year. I That is to raise the license i cost by 24 times to $25 for the same number of people i or to increase the number • of people who pay the $10 by 24 times. i That means that if in the first go-round there are ex- • emptions for senior citizens, children and for » blanket licenses for party and charter boats, these i exemptions will have to go , if the $50 million goal is to i be reached by 1989. That is, > unless the rest of us who | have to have the license end up paying $25. . irS THAT SIMPLE. To , get he revenue that is propos« d, someone is going to have to pay the additional - $30 million so that the revenue reaches the $50 million figure. And. what is even more stupid about this proposal is that it is being sold as a means for reducing the Federal deficit. If the feds collect $20 million and give the states back half, that means a $10 million impact on the deficit. If the revenue is raised to $50 million in 1989, then the deficit gets reduced by $25 million because the other half is going to be parcelled out to the states. THE BUREAUCRATS who suggest the license with regularity tend to overestimate the benefits, minimize the negative effects and pooh-pooh the thought that the license cost will ever go up. But no license we ever saw has gone down in price. Once established, ' save for a very few exceptions. they never go away. And, since the bureaucratic process which follows money into the federal maze has a tendency to burn large amounts up on administrative costs, little, if any, benefit will go to the people who will pay for the license. Now that the federal license proposal has been aired, it becomes more and more apparent that the license is in fact one more tax. It is designed to produce revenue. It is not designed to benefit the recreational fisherman. THE MONEY IS earmarked to go into the general fund, where it will be used to replace funding for the National Marine Fisheries Service. This means that the funding for this multi -faceted federal organization would be dumped on the sports fishermen. It is already ap-

parent that the bulk of the energy, the policies of the NMFS and the benefits ac- > crued from NMFS regulai tion go primarily to the t commercial fishermen. The councils throughout t the country are filled with appointments from the : commercial fishing sector. How well the sports i fishing fraternity will fare when and if a salt water ! license is used to fund NMFS activities can be • found in a recent letter we received from Gil Radonski, president of the Sport Fishing Institute, i IN THE LETTER, i Radonski warns that there is a movement afoot to ' remove Bill Gordon as director of the NMFS. Now, Bill Gordon's name i may not be a household word to some of you. But > Bill has made a serious effort to consider the needs of the marine recreational i fishery. The word is out that Bill Gordon's tenure is of short duration. His replacement will probably be a commercial fisherman's advocate.. Dr. An1 thony Calio, administrator of the NMFS has already 1 stated that the recreational fisheries are overrepresented on the regional councils. LETTERS SUPPORTING Gordon's retention on the job as director of NMFS are but one way to let the powers that be know that there is a recreational fishing constituency that should be heard from. Send a letter urging more recreational representation on the regional councils to Dr. Anthony Calio, Administrator, NOAA, Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C., 20230. Send a copy of your letter to Gilbert Radonski. SFI, 1010 Massachusetts Ave.. N.W., Suite 100, Washington, D C. 20001. Mention in your letter to Dr. Calio that you favor Bill Gordon's retention as the director of NMFS. Also voice your opposition to the salt water fishing license. Let him know how you and your salt water fishing friends feel. WE HAVE BEEN tilting the anti-salt -water license windmill for over 25 years The license has been successfully stopped in New Jersey, is in limbo in Delaware (but still a real possibility) and defeated in a number of other places. New York has toyed with oneandnow Massachusetts is also studying the idea. We even hear a few scattered murmurings from New Jersey that there may be a move i on foot to get a salt water license here.

It will be a handful of sports fishermen who fight the battle. Most will ignore the issue and not make any effort at all to join the fight But that's not unusual. What will be more frustrating is that the bat tie is not the fisherman's alone. The entire tourist industry has an even bigger stake. FEW REALIZE how important fishing is to the economy of a tourist-im-pacted area such as Cape May County. Informal polls we have taken indicate that 66 per cent of all potential tourists coming to Cape May County have an interest in 4 fishing. That figure was borne out by a similar survey taken by the State of New Jersey, which indicated that 66 per cent of the' people visiting the seashore in Ocean County also indicated in interest in fishing. Not all of these tourists fished while they were here. The fact that they just might fish means that any area where fishing is prohibited: where regulations and a license make it less than easy; and where land-based anglers cannot gel access to water could be selling itself short in the competition for the tourist dollar. THOSE WHO have the biggest stake in the salt water license issue are not the fishermen themselves. They are already paying time and again for the privilege of enjoying their sport. They pay taxes at the local, federal and state levels. They spend lots of money in gas stations, clothing stores, restaurants, motels, campgrounds and a whole host of periferal businesses. They do visit area gin mills and do buy some fuel for use in their boats. Marina operators, party and charter boat operators and livery operators all have a stake in this license proposal. All of the allied businesses in the tourist-

impacted areas should be up in arms about the license proposal. A lot of people stand to lose a lot if fishing is curtailed even a little. THERE IS a State of New Jersey survey which shows that if a $5 license is imposed. 83 per cent of the New Jersey resident anglers who now fish salt water would continue to do so. My arithmetic tells me that if 83 per cent will CONTINUE to fish, that means that 17 per cent would QUIT because of the license cost, regulations r and the harrassment caused by having to go somewhere to pick up the license. Fishing is already suffering a middle age-old age syndrome. There is a definite shortage of young people entering the sport Some are lost to racquet ball. Others just find something else to do. What the sport does not need is something else to keep people from entering it ONCE AGAIN, it is time to act. A good place to start is by sending a letter in opposition to the license to Congressman William J. Hughes, D. 2nd District.

Write him at 341 Cannon House Office Building. Washington. D C.. 20515*> There may be additional effort needed We'll keep you abreast of the latest developments. Meanwhile, those of you who choose to do nothing can start practicing toting around a rule book and a license. It CAN happen here.

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