Conservation Fund will be hit (T2)

On February 1, nearly two million New Yorkers purchasing a new hunting or fishing license will pay less for the privilege of doing so because Governor Coumo wants to stoke the state’s tourism industry. It’s no secret the sale of hunting and fishing licenses have been flat for some time, but it remains to be seen if reducing their cost by a few dollars means people will come flocking back to New York’s woods and streams in any great numbers any more than reducing the cost of a movie ticket by a dollar or two would fill an empty theater. The money generated by the sale of hunting and fishing licenses goes into the conservation fund and what the governor’s new fee structure does is to reduce the money going into that fund. This will not benefit conservation funds in the long run. Non-residents will see the steepest cuts in license fees, but these hunters and fishermen were coming to New York and paying the higher fees anyway. Only time will tell if reducing the fee for a non-resident fishing license by $20 will result in caravans of cars from Pennsylvania, Ohio or New Jersey. The Conservation Fund pays for fish hatcheries and stocking programs, as well as the state’s pheasant stocking program. Not only that, the money in the fund also pays the salaries for those employed in the fish, wildlife and law enforcement divisions. The problem now is that rather than fund necessary programs, the state is using the money in the Fund to cover an additional number of environmental conservation officer’s salaries. Fish hatcheries need vital improvements and there are very few sportsmen who will say we have enough conservation officers. This new reduction is not going to work in my opinion because people were already buying the expensive licenses. Therefore the conservation funds will be lowered and the state will not be able to pay for the officers and we won’t be able to make new improvements on the hatcheries and other conservation efforts.