Louisiana House approves bill to increase hunting and fishing license fees

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The Louisiana House approves legislation to increase certain hunting and fishing license fees, raising millions of dollars for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Prairieville Representative Tony Bacala says a fee hike is necessary because LDWF can no longer rely on a pot of money from the Conversation Fund, which holds mineral revenues from oil and gas drilling in wildlife management areas.

“When life was good with those mineral revenues, they stacked it away in a savings account, and as it became more lean, they were taking money out, and now the savings account is practically depleted,” said Bacala.

The vote was 79-20 in favor of restructuring Louisiana’s hunting and fishing licenses. The measure still needs Senate approval. Bacala says if they do not raise fees, then the state would have to take money from the general fund to pay for the operations of LDWF.

“That’s something we can’t do, that’s a bridge that can’t be built, a raise that can’t be given,” said Bacala.

Bacala says the average sportsmen’s license will not go up by more than 10-dollars and some activities will be combined. He says the commercial fishermen’s rates have been in place since 1986.

“By and large most are not going to pay $250 more than what they are paying today to make money off of the state’s resources,” said Bacala.

If the Senate approves Bacala’s bill, half of the rate increases would start on June 1, 2022, the remaining half would kick in two years later.

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