GAINESVILLE - Both hunters and fishermen turned out for the first half of a public forum at the Gainesville Civic Center to discuss the possibility of raising the cost of hunting and fishing license through the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and they were generally supportive of the idea.
The forum is the first of seven held across the state to garner public feedback about the rates, and some other issues. The prices for the licenses haven't changed since 1992.
"They haven't raised the price of a fishing license in 23 years, and that's pretty absurd," said trout fisherman Chris Borders, who drove from Cherokee County to share his opinion. "We don't have enough rangers patrolling, the stocking is ok right now, but it could be much better if they had more access to federal or state funds."
The federal dollars are directly related to how many licenses are purchased, according to DNR officials, and the excise tax on hunting and fishing goods is part of that.
Aside from hunters and fishers, other organizations were there in support of the price increase, including the President of the Georgia Chapter of the National Wild Turley Federation, David Wamer.
"We need to increase license sales and amounts so we get back the money we have spent in excise taxes from the Pittman-Robinson Act and the Dingell Johnson Act, which are excise taxes on things that we buy for our recreation," said Wamer. "So we just want our money back, to get our federal excise dollars back and get our piece of the pie back here in Georgia."
"Our licenses can be very complex," said Jennifer Hancock, DNR spokeswoman. "So we're looking to make it easier for customers to understand what they need to be able to use the wonderful resources that we have in Georgia."
"Our customers have been asking us for years to have more services and improved services and enhanced opportunities for recreation," said Hancock. "In order to do that we're going to have to increase some fees in some areas."
| Current Price | Concept | |
|---|---|---|
| Small Game | $10 | $15 |
| Big Game | $19 | $40 |
| Big Game Public Land | $38 | $40 |
| Fresh/Saltwater Fishing | $9 | $15 |
| Fresh/Salt/Trout Fishing | $14 | $25 |
| 3-Day Combo Hunt/Fish | $3.50 | N/A |
| 1-Day Combo Hunt/Fish | N/A | $5* |
* includes hunting and/or fishing on WMAs and PFAs
Additional forums will be held around the state. The next public forum is scheduled for 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on June 16th in Baxley.
Figure 6: Pricing Structure. The current pricing structure and a proposed pricing structure.
Figure 5: Restorations and enhancements. This station wanted feedback about what projects citizens would want from the DNR if they had the additional money from updated prices.
Figure 4: License Structure Simplification. The DNR's objective here is to make licensing easier and regroup certain licenses into the hunting and fishing licenses.
Figure 3: Non-traditional uses - Georgia Outdoor Recreational Pass. The DNR says that a GORP is deisgned for non-hunters and non-fishers, like bird watchers, campers and spelunkers. However, they say it does not bring any federal money back to the state. They want to know if citizens want a seperate land pass.
Figure 2: Why license purchases matter. The DNR says an excise tax on hunting and fishing equipment, like guns, ammunition, fishing poles, etc. The tax on the money you spend goes back to Georgia based on the number of paid hunting/fishing licenses.
Figure 1: Cost Comparisons from the last time prices were raised in 1992 to 2014. For example, shows that gasoline has changed from $1.12 per gallon to $3.35 per gallon.
A DNR official discusses the pricing for the Southeast with two citizens.
Figure 7: Prices in the South. This chart showed how prices varied for residents and no-residents in the state, and how Georgia compared to other states in the Southeast.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2015/6/317090/licenses