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It’s working.
Last October when the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission announced it was reducing the cost of a fishing license by $1 for 2015, they hoped it would spark an increase in sales.
While the final license sales report for 2015 won’t be reported until this fall, PFBC executive director recently informed the House Game and Fisheries Committee that as of May 11, license sales were up by 3 percent over last year.
The reduction brought the cost of a resident adult fishing license down to $21.70, while three-year and five-year licenses were dropped to $64.70 and $106.70, respectively.
After going nearly a decade without a license fee increase, the PFBC went against the grain and cut it’s prices. Sure, it’s only a buck, but it’s still a reduction nonetheless.
A government agency decreasing what it charges for its product, in this case fishing licenses, was destined to garner some attention.
And that’s exactly what the PFBC wanted to do.
“If we can capture the attention of potential new and returning anglers, we know they’ll be surprised at how inexpensive it is to fish and how easy it is to enjoy the sport,” executive director John Arway said when the reduction was announced.
But who are those “returning anglers” whose attention the PFBC wants to grab?
They are anglers who drop in and out of the sport, buying a license one year, skipping the next and then returning to cast a line again later on.
And there’s a lot of them.
The PFBC sells approximately 850,000 licenses each year. A 2011 survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that 1.1 million adults in the state either fished the year prior or planned to the following year.
That’s a gap of 250,000 anglers who could return as license buyers.
Perhaps knocking $1 off the price of a license is enough to convince many of them to come back.
Resident adult fishing licenses aren’t the only item that’s seeing an increase in sales. Arway told the committee that the fishing license buttons – a throwback to the licenses of decades ago, have also skyrocketed in sales.
The buttons were re-introduced last year and the agency sold 6,600 of them at $5 each. This year, so far, sales have topped 26,300.
Still, the PFBC is facing financial issues that $1 decreases and retro license buttons can’t fix.
And that’s where the agency is hoping to take a completely different approach by raising costs.
Arway asked the legislators to consider raising the cost of a trout.salmon permit by $5 in 2017 followed by annual $1 increases each of the following four years.
Wait a minute. If the agency feels so strongly that a $1 reduction in the cost of a regular fishing license will increase sales, then why does it want to raise the price of a trout/salmon permit?
Because the trout hatchery program is floundering under its current funding format.
Arway said in 1991, more than 737,500 permits were sold, generating $3.7 million and covering 57 percent of the costs associated with raising and stocking trout.
Last year, 593,500 permits were sold, $4.7 million was generated and only 46 percent of the cost to raise trout covered. If the current pace continues, by 2021 permit sales will cover only 30 percent of the trout hatchery program.
The difference is covered by the sales of general fishing licenses, meaning those that don’t fish for trout are being asked to pay more for the program that benefits the anglers who do.
Permits the increase in license sales means more anglers will get into trout fishing and more permits will eventually be sold.
But until that happens, it seems fair to increase the cost of a the $9.70 trout stamp.
After all, if at some point the sales of trout stamps adequately cover the cost of the program, perhaps the agency can reduce the price.
They’ve already proven they’re willing to cut anglers a break once.