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Bay/Delta Stamp no longer required as of Jan. 1, 2010

by Mike McKenzie, CSPA Membership Director

October 17, 2009 -- This past Sunday the Gov. signed AB1052 into law. This is the bill that brings significant change to the Bay Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp program.

Starting Jan. 1, 2010 the stamp and associated use fee required to fish within the bay/delta system will not be required.
In addition, the committee will be continued to provide oversight and accountability of the $6 million fund balance remaining on account. Other operational conditions addressing the way DFG manages the program have been included within the legislation as a result of a Joint Legislative Audit regarding DFG accounting practices, project selection, public notification and application of these funds.

The resulting legislation is the culmination of an eighteen month effort by Jim Crenshaw, John Ryzanych and John Beuttler of the BDSFES committee, (and all directors of CSPA), California's sport fishing community and Assembly Member Caballero, to bring much needed change to the BDSFES program.

The committee feels that these new statutory elements will provide DFG the framework to be more organized with the planning of projects benefiting the Bay/Delta fishery and more cooperative with the committee in the selection of projects and spending of BDSFES monies.

It is important to acknowledge the support by the many organizations, clubs, and individuals (including those that participate on this Bulletin Board) that helped champion this campaign by signing onto letters of support and contacting their representatives directly. This effort helped produce the overwhelming level of support of the California Legislature needed to pass this bill.

The BDSFE Stamp was originally established by 2003 legislation authored by former Senator Sheila Kuehl (SB 692) with overwhelming support from sport anglers interested in generating additional funds to address the serious decline of Bay-Delta fisheries. It required anglers who fished within the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento / San Joaquin Delta regions to purchase a stamp in addition to a regular fishing license. It also required that Fish and Game spend the funds in that account to benefit sport fish populations, sport fishing opportunities and anglers within the geographic range in addition to the long term, sustainable benefit of the primary bay-delta sport fisheries

More than 250,000 sport fishermen annually purchase a BDSFE Stamp, and in their eyes the program has fallen short of the original intent and goals of the authorizing legislation. The fishery has crashed and over $6 million of the nearly $10 million collected since the program’s inception sit idle on account just waiting to be spent on projects to enhance the Delta’s fisheries. Even with the insistence of the stamp committee the department has not considered a Bay /Delta management or fisheries recovery plan. Two separate state audits of the DFG have cited several fiscal improprieties regarding how BDSFES monies have been managed and spent, and that DFG has been slow to identify and fund suitable projects to improve the fisheries of the Bay /Delta. The result is a surplus of funds equivalent to four times the amount of revenue normally collected from stamp sales in a single year. Considering such history, it is understandable why California anglers are not content with the way DFG has responded to their interests and managed their money.

To address this issue sport fishermen received legislative support to extend for one year the sunset date of the original program with Assembly Bill 2162 (Mullen). Despite the good faith effort to continue the revenue stream of the stamp, program recommendations made by the committee continued to be ignored by staff. As a result, legislative support for AB1052 (Caballero) was overwhelming. The intent of this bill represents the best interest of the fishing community, the Bay /Delta fisheries and the DFG by providing the tools necessary to assure the agency spend the existing BDSFES funds according to the authorizing legislation. This bill provides that the DFG continue the existing Bay Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp advisory committee, of sport angling stakeholders, so they can work collaboratively with the department to identify projects and programs that would spend down the existing surplus. It would also enact important spending and planning reforms identified in the 2008 Joint Legislative Audit that would provide a framework better suited to accomplish the objectives of the authorizing legislation.

Should DFG implementation of the program improve with the reforms contained in AB 1052, and progress is demonstrated in meeting the goals of the original BDSFES legislation the sport fishing community would willingly support re-authorization of the stamp through future legislation.

The California sport fishing community recognizes the value of such a program, and remains committed to working with the DFG on the recovery of the Bay /Delta Fisheries. It is their hope that the DFG also recognizes the value of having the support of this constituent base in order for this and future revenue programs to be successful.