We Should Own Fish & Game Agencies

Literally!

Recently Sen. Malcolm Wallop of Wyoming died. Why is this important: Well, he was a huge friend of the outdoors, and one thing he did for all of us was to help regular ol’ anglers and the fishing industry keep state fish and game agencies afloat. Literally.

But imo, the work he started isn’t done – and I’m not happy about it. Haven’t been for some time. You should be ticked too.

First a little background:

> Wallop served as a U.S. senator from his home state of Wyoming from 1977 to 1995, and during that time co-authored one of the most important – and one of the most successful – pieces of legislation for outdoorsmen and women.

> That legislation is now known as the Wallop-Breaux Amendment to the 1950 Sport Fish Restoration Act, commonly referred to as the Dingell-Johnson Act. Here in brief is the legislative trail, followed by its tremendous importance.

• 1937 – Congress extends an existing 10 percent excise tax on ammunition and firearms used for hunting, and earmarks the proceeds to be distributed to states for wildlife restoration. This was and still is the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration act, better known as Pittman-Robertson after its sponsors. The bill was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Sept. 2, 1937.
• 1950 – The successful Pittman-Robertson Act is copied on the recreational fishing side (10 percent excise tax on fishing tackle), and the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act (Dingell-Johnson) is signed into law by President Harry S. Truman on Aug. 9, 1950 – after vetoing it the year before.
• 1984 – Dingell-Johnson is significantly expanded by what’s now known as the Wall-Breaux Amendment. So much so that the fishing “side” of this legislation is now known as Wallop-Breaux.

> Both programs – fishing and hunting – have been amended several times to expand the pool of money available to states. To date, several billion dollars have been returned to state fish and game agencies for managing fish and wildlife.

> And most fish and game departments rely exclusively on license and permit sales and Pittman-Robertson/Wallop-Breaux money to fund their programs.

That’s where it begins and ends for me, maybe for you. In other words, WE neanderthal anglers and hunters fund 100% (or close to it) of state fish and game agencies. Yet these same F&G departments – because they’re part of state governments – are charged with doing everything from saving endangered species, to managing suburban deer, you name it.

That’s fine and all, but they’re a) doing it with OUR MONEY, b) the rest of the state contributes ZIP to do that work and c) we have NO SAY IN THIS. That ticks me off!

No idea how we can rectify this situation, but name me one other case where funds come from one “special interest group” to fund something for everyone instead of the other way around. (May exist, don’t know, doubt it.)

More

If’n your interested:

These so-called Federal Aid excise taxes are taxes paid by manufacturers, though of course they are “passed on” to anglers and hunters. Mike Nussman, president and CEO of the American Sportfishing Association (the folks that represent rec fishing interests in DC), told me that Sen. Wallop “always flinched a little bit when you called it a tax.

“But I remember one time when I was in his office he [said he] was very proud of putting this [Wallop-Breaux] proposal together and passing it, and even afterwards [was proud of] people feeling they were getting their money’s worth out of it. He was just very pleased with his fatherhood of the program, and any program where the anglers and industry collectively think it works, you have to be proud of that.”

Nussman added, “I thinks it’s safe to say that without this program, sport fishing in America would not be the activity that we all have come to love and value today. It would be a much reduced version of itself.” Wallop-Breaux “is clearly one of the major reasons we enjoy the quality of fishing we do today.”