At first blush this seems to indicate that commercials are being hit extremely hard - especially in comparison to recreational consumers of our public resources.

That initial perception is misleading because commercial users have never paid a price comparative to that of recreational users - and the proposed increases do not bring comparability!

Case in point: In 2010 there were 247 Puget Sound commercial crabbers who paid $130.00 for a license that allowed them to fish up to 100 pots; total license revenue to the State: $32,110. That allowed a commercial operator access to (2005-2009 average) 2,766,034 pounds of crab at license fees totally just over a penny a pound. WDFW reports that the average ex vessel (price paid to fishermen) was around $2.69 per pound.

In 2010 some 212,694 sport crabbers paid $395,131 just in Puget Sound endorsements for access to 1,266,971 pounds of crab or $.31 per pound. If you add the $12.00 shellfish license the gross revenue is over $3MM but using just $3,000,000 the per pound pro rata license cost is $2.37.

So if the commercials are currently paying $.01 per pound and their revenue costs are increased 50% or half a cent and rec crabbers are paying $2.37 a pound and their license costs go up 12.6% or 30 cents guess who is, again, paying a disproportionate share?

Where is this leading?

My position is make the commercials pay a comparable price to extract a public resource.

Also, it is simply insane to want more money in license fees AND want to disband the Commission which is our access to decision making affecting wildlife decisions.

Finally, despite the above comments I personally am willing to pay more but want to retain my access to decisions via an empowered Commission.