OUTDOOR CORNER: FISH RESTORATION ACT AIDS PROGRAMS

Through the most effective "user-pays, user-benefits" program in the nation -- The Sport Fish Restoration Act -- anglers and boaters provide vital financial support for state fisheries management, boating access and other related programs.

Last year, more than $350 million was apportioned to the states. Originally passed in 1950 and strongly supported by anglers throughout the nation, the Sport Fish Restoration Act placed a 10 percent excise tax on fishing rods, reels, lures, fishing line and related fishing equipment.

In 1984, Congress passed the Wallop-Breaux Amendments to the Act, also widely supported by resource users, which included import duties on yachts and a motorboat fuel tax. As a result of important partnerships formed during the 1984 amendments, each state now spends at least 12.5 percent of Sport Fish Restoration funds on boating access and up to 10 percent on aquatic resource education and fisheries outreach activities.

Angling participation in America, and there are about 60 million adult anglers casting out there, has rebounded as a result of the Sport Fish Restoration Act, especially after the Wallop-Breaux Amendments of 1984. Wallop-Breaux expanded the scope of previous laws and can lay claim to being the country's most effective yet quietest success stories in natural resource conservation.

Sport Fish Restoration funds are distributed depending upon the size of the state and the number of fishing licenses sold, with no state receiving more than 5 percent or less than 1 percent. The program provides a valuable investment in the maintenance and enhancement of our natural resources and the tremendous economic benefits they generate for the future. Of particular importance is the fact that many angler expenditures occur in rural areas, thus providing a boost to countless small communities.

Missouri receives approximately $7 million annually from the Sport Fish Restoration funds. Of the $7 million, 28 percent goes toward public lake management, 24 percent to fisheries research, 22.5 percent to hatcheries and lake development, 12.5 percent to boat access, 8 percent to aquatic education and 5 percent to private lake management.

Most of the Missouri Department of Conservation hatcheries, boat accesses and lakes were partially funded through the Sport Fish Restoration Act and a lot of these projects could not have been completed without these funds.

Sometime this year Congress is expected to revisit the Sport Fish Restoration Act when legislators deliberate reauthorizing the allocation of motorboat and small engines gas tax transferred annually from the Highway Trust Fund. The gas tax portion of the Sport Fish Restoration program netted $245 million in 1996.

It is hoped that anglers and boaters become informed of the accomplishments of the Sport Fish Restoration Act -- how it works and what it does for them -- and offer support. It is also hoped that U.S. legislators, too, will give strong endorsement to the program, once described by Senator John Breaux as "the cornerstone of our congressional efforts to restore and maintain healthy fisheries nationwide."

It also is a great user-pays, user benefits program that is a model for the future and doesn't affect the budget.

Brad Pobst is an aquatic services biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation.