Bills seek big increases in Michigan hunting, fishing fees
It may soon cost more to bag a buck or to reel in a big one in Michigan.
Two state lawmakers have written bills that seek significant, phased-in price increases in the state's hunting and fishing licenses. Some license fees would go up two or three times as much, or more.
Sen. Liz Brater, D-Ann Arbor, introduced her fishing-fees bill in the Senate on Tuesday, while Rep. Matt Gillard, D-Alpena, was likely to introduce his companion hunting-fees bill in the House by Wednesday, their offices said.
If the bills are passed, fees could go up immediately, said Mary Dettloff, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources who had not seen the actual language of the bills. Full increases would be phased in over a four-year period, with an additional 5 percent increases in years five and six.
Hunting and fishing license fees have not gone up since 1996, she said.
"License packages are really only meant to last five or six years," Dettloff said. "We've really made this one stretch."
The number of license holders in Michigan has been on the decline for years. The state sold 1,171,721 hunting licenses in 1992, a figure that had tumbled 33 percent to 789,244 by 2005. Fishing license sales, which topped out in 1988 at 1,644,342, had fallen 29 percent to 1,161,432.
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