DNR wants fishermen to pay extra fee to support hatcheries
Associated Press
CLEMSON, S.C. - State officials want to require anglers who catch certain species of trout and bass to pay an additional permit fee to support the hatcheries that nurture the fish.
The $5.50 fee would be required of fisherman who catch striped bass, striped bass hybrids, smallmouth bass, brown trout, rainbow trout and brook trout.
Officials with the state Department of Natural Resources say the fee could raise more than $400,000 to support maintenance work at fish hatcheries, which raise the trout and striped bass stocked in lakes and streams.
The proposal would have to be approved by the state Legislature.
Val Nash, the state's chief of fisheries at DNR, said at a public meeting in Clemson on Thursday that there is more work to be done at hatcheries than staff to do it.
"There is a backlog of maintenance and if it is not done then it could shut them down," Nash said. "We are not trying to run anybody out of the sport."
Because of budget cuts, the natural resources agency has closed fish hatcheries at Newberry and Barnwell. The agency now targets the production of seven species of fish. In past years, the Department of Natural Resources raised as many as 16 species and operated 19 hatcheries.
State fisheries experts said the annual economic impact of game fishing is more than $117 million.
Some anglers see the extra fee as a way to get more money out of fishermen.
"It's just to make the politicians richer," said Norris Perego, an Anderson resident.
Townville resident Jerry Wofford, an avid striper fisherman, said he would like to see a nationwide fee.
"They're doing it for the wrong reason," Wofford said. "It should be nationwide and it should be used to restock the lakes and promote fishing."
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