Quote:
Originally Posted by MathGeek
LDWF is funded with a number of revenue streams, not just license fees, so the argument that license fees should increase with the consumer price index is invalid. Their overall budget has grown by over 136% since the last change in the saltwater license fee.
But LDWF has represented that this increase is needed to allow them to take better data to better manage the fisheries. We are less than trusting in that representation for several reasons:
1. Dedicated funds are seldom used as promised in Louisiana. Note the robbing of the $26 million artificial reef fund.
2. The actual language of the bill does not dedicate the money to research, and LDWF would be at liberty to spend the money on anything on anything remotely qualifying as conservation, including likely using the money to staff new (unneeded) saltwater hatcheries and fund their operation. The money could also be used for any enforcement efforts related to conservation, including bigger rewards to catch violators who shoot whooping cranes.
3. LDWF has been secretive about their saltwater fisheries data for the past four years, even though this data was acquired with public funds. It would be dishonest to say that this data is under a "gag order" since no court has ordered keeping a lid on the data. The decision to keep the data secret comes from within the executive branch, and they could just as easily decide to share the data with all stakeholders and scientists. This situation is very similar to the EPA which is now refusing to provide the data upon which many of their restrictive policies and regulations are based. Why should we pay for LDWF to acquire more data to analyze in secret and proclaim support for more restrictive regulations? Government should be more open than this.
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when you requested data, you got a letter from an attorney correct? What did that letter say? Can you post it?