Mastercaster,

Talk about in the dark . . . However, I see Idaho's your homeport. First, there is no F&G in WA State. I've mentioned it here before; and sometimes we can be a little slow on the upstake, so perhaps it's worth repeating: there is no F&G in WA State. There used to be a Dept. of Fisheries and a separate Dept. of Game. That's history. For the past 6 or 7 years we have had the WDFW (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife). The separate agencies were merged by the state legislature.

As for license fees, you're absolutely correct. It all goes into the state general fund. However, it isn't that simple. This is just like real life, and it's kinda' complex. The "old" Dept. of Game did derive much of its funding from license and fee revenue, and it went straight into the department's budget. The old Dept. of Fisheries was always funding by the legislature from general revenue, and its license fees went into the state general fund. As part of the merger legislation, all license revenue now goes into the general fund, BUT - there is a mildly complex formula that doles out what is "expected" to have been collected by "old Game" under the old fashioned arrangement, and a % of the collections that are from saltwater licenses, etc. are doled out under the present version of the old Dept. of Fisheries arrangement.

The upshot is that all the funds represented by license revenues are allocated back to the "new" WDFW. That, and many millions more. Those of you who believe that if only 100% of your license fees were available to WDFW, then we'd have hatcheries and fishing like you couldn't believe, well, let me tell you - you wouldn't believe just how bad it would be! Most of the state-funded hatcheries would probably have to close because WDFW wouldn't have enough money to operate them. Fisheries in this state are extensively subsidized by the general fund. Your beer-drinking, golfing, non-fishing neighbor is subsidizing your fishing! Now go over to his house and thank him!

It gets even funnier if you're a steelhead angler. Hatchery steelhead are further subsidized by your once-a-year-lowland-lake-trout-fishing neighbor who buys a fishing license. Stocking lakes is cheap compared to raising hatchery steelhead and planting enough of the little buggers to get a decent enough return to make a decent fishery. So license-buying-non-steelheaders help subsidize your hatchery steelhead fishing habit.

And BTW, the excise tax on fishing and hunting equipment is a federal tax that is returned to states in proportion to the amount generated. And since we buy so much, WA gets a pretty healthy return of $$ from the federal gov't via the Dingell-Johnson and *****-Robinson Acts (memory failure there, sorry).

And Geoduck,

there's even more to your consistency Ps & Qs. I'm sorta' pro-WT and pro-hatchery, and you would then consider me inconsistent. Not true. You'll find me to be one of the most consistent people you're likely to meet. I know a whole lot about the pros and cons of the state hatchery system. I've advocated for some hatcheries and programs and against others. I've designed and built some hatcheries. And I'm an ardent advocate of wild salmon and trout. And these are not inconsistent beliefs.

A large problem emerges when you, or anyone, attempts to simplify, or over-simplify, what is a fairly to very complex system of relationships among various hatcheries and hatchery programs and wild salmon and steelhead stocks. The problem lies in assuming the issues can be so simple as pro-WT or pro-hatchery, with no place in the middle. Actually, there is almost no place at the extreme edges of pro-WT and pro-hatchery when the overwhelmingly vast majority of the substance of the issue lies in the vast, complex, and perhaps confusing middle ground. Which is probably why we see such fervent and polarized and unsubstantiated opinions expressed here on this BB. People like it simple and easy. Sorry, this ain't Burger King, and that choice simply isn't on the menu.

The more complex reality is that some hatchery programs can co-exist with wild fish, and some hatchery programs can exist only at the expense of wild fish, and a lot of hatchery programs exist somewhere in that grey, muddled, middle. That's real life folks. Messy.

So how would you like yours Sir? Flame broiled, fried, or extra-greasy?

Sincerely,

Salmo g.