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Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Baldacci proposes registration fees for canoes, kayaks
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||||||||
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Gov. John Baldacci proposed a $6 registration fee for canoes and kayaks in a revised budget released over the weekend, officials said Monday. The money raised from the fee - an estimated $861,385, according to the Legislature's Office of Fiscal and Program Review - would help the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife close a $5.3 million budget shortfall. The department proposed covering the shortfall by raising fishing and hunting licenses $6, charging a $5 fee for any-deer applications, and cutting 42 positions - 10 percent of its staff. The canoe and kayak fee would allow the department to retain some of its staff, according to the Office of Fiscal and Program Review. The department now sells registration stickers for motorized boats and receives 75 percent of the revenue, said Mark Latti, the department's spokesman. The other 25 percent goes to the Department of Marine Resources, Latti said. Carey Kish, founder and former president of the 1,000-member Maine Outdoor Adventure Club, said it will be hard initially to get everyone to pay. Kish, an avid hiker, noted for example that some hikers try to avoid the parking permit required in the White Mountain National Forest. The die-hard kayakers in Maine will likely comply, he said. "It's now the way of the world. You have to pay to play. But I don't think anyone will be happy about it," Kish said. "But it won't keep anybody out of the waters." Enforcing the fee would be a task for the Warden Service, but not a hardship, said Col. Tim Peabody. Peabody said enforcement of the sticker would not take wardens outside their normal duties of checking kayakers and canoeists for life jackets. Peabody said there would be a period for educating the public, just as there was for the milfoil sticker required for boats last year. Peabody said that most boat owners bought the milfoil sticker last summer, the first summer it was required. Peabody said that seeing stickers on kayaks may be more difficult, but anything that could be done to preserve positions in the department would be "met with open arms." Department Commissioner Roland "Danny" Martin could not be reached for comment. Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:
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