pay when you buy certain fishing equipment?
The name of the federal fund sharing system is known as Wallop-Breaux, originally introduced by two U.S. legislators.
The disbursement requirements very simply demanded that if you collect federal taxes from people who enjoy recreational fishing and such, it should be distributed to the states, to be used by them to enhance sport fishing programs, increase public access to the water and simply provide ways to make life more enjoyable for people who paid for it ? the sportsmen and sportswomen of America.
Nowhere did the Wallop-Breaux Act stipulate that a state government could ? or had the right ? to divert such funds and use them to buy striped bass tags for commercial fish netters. That?s what is being charged in the case of several states, with the leader of the pack perhaps being the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR).--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------?
Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act, commonly called the Dingell-Johnson Act or Wallop-Breaux Act. It provides Federal aid to the States for management and restoration of fish having "material value in connection with sport or recreation in the marine and/or fresh waters of the United States." In addition, amendments to the Act provide funds to the states for aquatic education, wetlands restoration, boat safety and clean vessel sanitation devices (pumpouts), and a nontrailerable boat program.?
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A national striped bass conservation group known as Stripers Forever says Maryland?s DNR has diverted recreational fishing-intended funds from Wallop-Breaux to do just that. The DNR has been helping the watermen, the very people who are a pain in the side of conservation-minded? anglers and boaters. After many days of research by Ken Hastings, a Maryland member of Stripers Forever, it reveals how the proceeds from the ?tax on equipment used primarily by hunters and fishermen can be misused.?As Brad Burns, the president of Stripers Forever, puts it, ?The money that should have been dedicated to enhancing recreational fishing opportunities was instead siphoned off to buy tags for commercial striper/rock fishermen, so they wouldn?t need to buy the tags themselves.?
?The way we see it,? says Burns, ?the recreational fishery for striped bass in Maryland -- which [provides] more jobs and much greater economic value to the state than the commercial fishery -- is being degraded severely by the commercial fishing effort, and at the same time recreational anglers are paying the commercial fishermen?s bills. It is not a lot different in other coastal states, where there has been little appetite by regulators to ask commercial fishermen to pay the true cost of regulating themselves.?However, the chief of Maryland Fisheries, Thomas O'Connell, immediately answered my question concerning this matter. In an e-mail to me, Mr. O'Connell wrote: "Gene, the Maryland DNR has used Wallop-Breaux funding for the purchase of commercial striped bass tags since the mid-1990s. The use of this funding in this manner was pursued by a previous Fisheries Service Director and was approved by [the] US FWS who administers this funding. Using this funding in this manner came to my attention last year, and when I learned about this, I immediately put an end to it. ?I do not believe this is a justifiable use of sport fishermen's equipment excise tax revenues, and is why I immediately put an end to it.?
Source: http://www.genemuellerfishing.com/2012/08/charges-made-and-answered-by-maryland.html
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