Fishing license fee hike on agenda for Pa. Fish and Boat Commission

Fishing license and boat fee increases are up for consideration by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission in a special meeting Friday.

The resident fishing license fee — the basic fee paid by most anglers — will climb from $21 per year to $23.50 if commissioners approve the new fees as proposed rulemaking at the meeting on Friday and again as final rulemaking in a future meeting.

According to the commission, fishing license fees haven’t risen since 2005.

The commission gained temporary approval for setting its own fees in 2020. Act 56 that year also carried a sunset clause that will see the fee-setting authority expire in July 2025.

“If new revenues are not in place for the 2023 license year, the commission will not be able to maintain adequate levels of services to Pennsylvania’s anglers, let alone respond to angler desires for expanded efforts in many program areas,” the commission noted in its agenda for Friday’s meeting.

Among those program areas, the commission listed “strategic and timely fisheries management;” improvements and maintenance at state fish hatcheries, hazardous dams, and boat launch access areas and ramps; aquatic resource field and classroom education; angler information programs; and conservation law enforcement.

“Without additional or new revenues in the Fish Fund, and as forecasted expenditures begin to further outpace existing revenues, the commission may need to reduce program benefits to anglers,” explained the agenda document.

Other fishing license fee increases would include trout permit, $8 increasing to $10.50; non-resident, jumping from $51 to $55; senior resident annual, $10 to $11.25; senior resident lifetime, $50 to $75; three-day tourist, $25 to $27.50; seven-day tourist, $33 to $35; one-day tourist, $25 to $27.50; one-day resident, $10 to $11.25; and combination trout/Lake Erie permit, $14 to $16.50.

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission offers discounted fishing licenses

Boat-related fees, which haven’t been hiked since the 1980s and 1990s, would include increases in certificate of title, from $15 to $58; duplicate title, $15 to $58; transfer of a multi-year boat registration, $5 to $10; operator license for passenger-carrying boats, $5 to $50; commercial fishing license, $80 to $100; and others.

Friday’s meeting will be held at 1 p.m. at commission headquarters at 1601 Elmerton Ave., Harrisburg.

It’s an in-person meeting, but also will be live-streamed on the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission Facebook page.