IFPAG Meeting, Dec. 19, 2015

[Don Wittenberger]

WDFW's Inland Fish Policy Advisory Group (IFPAG), which normally meets 3 times a year, held its final meeting of 2015 in Ellensburg yesterday. Despite sloppy pass conditions, the meeting was well attended, with over 20 people present including WDFW staff. IFPAG's citizen-members are appointed by the WDFW director for 2-year terms, and I have represented the tiger musky angling community on this panel for several years. This was one of the most productive meetings I can remember, and I'll go through the topics more or less in the order they were on the agenda.

1. Budget. The legislature convenes next month for a short "off-year" session that will adopt a supplementary budget, but Craig Burley's discussion focused on the upcoming budget for the next biennium (2017-2019). Like other state agencies, WDFW suffered budget cuts and staff reductions during the recession. These cuts fell on, among other things, hatchery production and education/outreach programs. The tiger musky stocking program survived intact because it's paid for by license fees that go into a dedicated Warmwater Account within the State Wildlife Fund, which by law can't be used for other purposes (such as schools). We were very lucky this funding arrangement (which grew out of the $5 "warmwater enhancement" license fee of several years ago) was in place when the budget crisis hit. Burley said there's enough money in the Warmwater Account to maintain current activities, but nothing for inflation and salary raises, which may become "a long-term problem." The overall WDFW budget is facing a shortfall of over $10 million for 2017-2019, and Burley asked IFPAG members to let our constituents know that WDFW needs our help in persuading legislators to fund WDFW's budget request. As most of you probably know, WDFW gets part of its budget from the State General Fund, and competes with schools and other state agencies for this money; and the legislature is under pressure from the courts to spend more on schools. Last year, the legislature denied WDFW's request to raise license fees, so it's only fair that legislators providing this funding from the General Fund.

2. Marketing. WDFW has become proactive in promoting hunting and fishing license sales in the last couple years. A lot of what it's doing in this area is very sensible, for example, making it easier to buy licenses online. The presenter for this topic was Dan Fernandez, who works in the Licensing Division, while Bruce Bolding compiled a list of suggestions from IPFAG members during the meeting. One member brought up the idea of marketing fishing licenses to the military, pointing out that every time an aircraft carrier docks in Bremerton or Everett, several thousand sailors circulate get off the ship and they're all potential license buyers.

This gave me an opportunity to revive an idea brought to me by a Chapter 57 member several years of free fishing licenses for military personnel. Instead of WDFW giving out fishing licenses free to military personnel, public donations to a special fund would pay for them. The donations would be raised by asking people buying fishing licenses if they want to donate to this fund. I think the sporting community would be very supportive of this. Doing it this way, WDFW would get the additional revenue from increased license sales, people serving in the military would get free licenses, and the public would have a direct and personal way to thank them for their service by donating to the fund. The reaction in the meeting was very positive, and I'll follow up by mailing some materials to Dan Fernandez.

3. Simplifying sport rules. Craig Burley addressed this topic. Right now, the rules pamphlet is 140 pages; WDFW is looking at eliminating unnecessary rules, and possibly splitting the pamphlet into separate freshwater and marine/shellfish editions. Washington is not alone in wanting to simplifying its sportfishing rules and produce a shorter rules pamphlet; a number of other state wildlife agencies are tackling this, too, and Burley has collected rules pamphlets from 24 other states to see how they're doing things. Oregon has a similar project underway. Other ideas include smarphone apps that would allow anglers to electronically access the rules applicable to the lake they're fishing. If you have other ideas or suggestions, can submit them to Bruce Bolding. WDFW expects to wrap up this project in about 18 months.

4. Tournament fees. As part of the sport rules discussion, Burley mentioned there's a way for fishing tournament sponsors to reduce their tournament permit fees. My understanding is a sponsor pays a $24 application fee and a $70 processing fee, so a tournament permit costs a total of $94. Let's say a fishing club wants to sponsor tournaments on three weekends during the season. Normally, this would result in a $94 fee for each weekend tournament. However, if the club organizes the tournament as a single tournament held over three weekends, with one set of prizes awarded after the final weekend event, WDFW will allow the club to submit a single application for all three weekend events. This would save the club two-thirds of the permit fees it otherwise would pay. If you want more information about this, call Bruce Baker.

5. 2016 Musky stocking and Lake Tapps. After the meeting, I asked Bruce Bolding how many baby muskies we have in the hatchery for next spring's stocking. WDFW normally tries to raise 6,000 fingerlings a year for our 7 lakes. Bruce said we will have 6,700 fish next year. Tapps will continue to be a tiger musky lake, but may not receive a stocking next year if there isn't enough forage for them; this is a consequence of the low water levels Tapps has suffered over the last year.