ON THE SIDELINES : Sales of Hunting Licenses Drop
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SACRAMENTO — Sales of hunting and fishing licenses in California have declined steeply for the last 10 years and threaten the Department of Fish and Game with a serious money shortage, its director says.
Director Pete Bontadelli said urbanization of California and shifts in social attitudes toward hunting have had a major effect on the department, which traditionally relies on license sales to sportsmen to finance much of its work.
“The traditional funding bases . . . are not holding up,” Bontadelli said Wednesday. “In the last (1988-89) fiscal year, we had a $7-million deficiency. This year it may be even greater.”
Bontadelli testified at the annual seminar on fishing issues held by the Senate-Assembly Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture. He said that for the first six months of the current fiscal year, the department’s cash shortfall has reached $6 million.
Future economies may include closing fish hatcheries, dumping fish and restricting travel of employees “to the point where their work will be ineffective,” he said.
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