AZ G&F Funding for Warm Water Fishery Mgmt

[Spoonplugger]

In the notes that Paul posted, it looks like in July 2014, there will be budget for annual warm water fish stockings--this should be a positive step. Also, there were some notes about matching funds and finding budget for habitat research/improvement. This part was a bit confusing to me, since I cannot find how the Sport Fish Restoration Fund is divided up in AZ.

This is what the federal government allocates to AZ for Sport Fish Restoration/Boating Access. This money comes from the stuff we buy:




Here is breakdown of the money collected from your purchases. This is what has accumulated in the federal trust fund for FY13 (Oct2012-July2013):



It seems that a majority for this trust fund revenue is generated from purchases regarding warm water fishing/lake activities...boat gas!

A minimum of 15% of the annual Sport Fish Restoration grant must be used on Boating Access. So AZ G&F needs to spend about 1 million per year on boat ramp maintenance/construction, docks, restrooms, and parking.

I have one estimate of about 2.5 million per year is spent on hatchery operations and the trout stocking program that produces about 3 million rainbow trout per year. That is about 35% of the budget.

They can also spend up to 15% max on Aquatic Education.

So those rough estimates account for half of the Sport Fish Restoration Fund. Does anyone know how the other 3.5 million is spent each year?

Habitat Protection/Restoration, Fishery Management Plans, Angler Satisfaction Surveys, Fishery Research, etc.

It would seem the money for Roosevelt habitat construction, research, and stocking budget is already available and pre-paid by the users...us.


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[magic]

How does the Government know I am buying gas for my boat? Are they just collecting this money from everyone buying gas? Just curious.

[Spoonplugger]

Originally Posted by magic

How does the Government know I am buying gas for my boat?

1984 Wallop-Breaux Amendment

• Provided for additional funds captured from a portion of the federal gasoline excise taxes attributable to motorboats by a formula based on boat registrations

[AZfisherdude]

Thanks for the breakdown. I was wondering about the gas as well unless it is only a tax charged at Marina gas stations?

[Paul Matthews]

Good info right there. This is the kind of dialogue we need. I'm not to well versed on how all this works. It will be a steep learning curve. Knowledge is power.

[Spoonplugger]

Here is the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration handbook:

http://library.fws.gov/Pubs9/sportsfish.pdf

Basically, 7 million is available to AZ G&F for Sport Fish Restoration specific projects. They all must go through the Federal Aid Coordinator to get approved before the money is released. AZ comes up with 25% of the money from a non-federal source and then they get 75% of the money for the project from our Sport Fish Fund.

For example, if it would take 2 million to fix up Bubbling Ponds Hatchery for largemouth bass, AZ G&F would cover $500,000 and our Sport Fish fund would cover $1,500,000.

I am going to see if I can get information on how the fund has been used over the past five years. I wonder if AZ G&F has utilized the full 7 million over the past few years or if the money has been left on the table. It would also be interesting to see what projects have been funding from our Sport Fish Trust Fund over the past 5 years.




http://library.fws.gov/Pubs9/sportsfish.pdf

[AZfisherdude]

Nice job!

[Fish Manager]

I think this is what you're looking for. This graph is from a presentation given to our Commission at a public meeting in June of 2012 for FY budget years of 2014& 2015 and shows the breakdown of how the money will be spent.

[AZfisherdude]

What are "fish management" and "fish production"?

[Spoonplugger]

Don - Thanks for the chart above on the Sport Fish Fund breakdown.

Arizona State Fishing Licenses are a non-fed money that can help toward the 25% AZ project cost that is required to pull the other 75% project funding from our federal trust fund.

Here is a breakdown of the year over year fishing license data, based on this federal report:

http://wsfrprograms.fws.gov/Subpages...ry20042013.pdf

[Spoonplugger]

Here is a look at our Sport Fish Fund with dollar amounts. This assumes the full use of the FY13 federal allotment and includes the 25% of AZ G&F funds that must come from a non-federal source.





Assuming Fish Management, Fish Production, and Urban Fishing produce and deliver 99% Rainbow trout for AZ, then 75% of our federal trust fund is used for trout production/infrastructure/delivery in AZ -- $5.3 million per year of our federal trust fund and $1.3 million per year of AZ G&F state funds.


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[AZfisherdude]

Where are the administrative costs in this?

[Paul Matthews]

Wouldn't administrative costs be included in the general operating budget?

[Forrest Webb]

The talk about AZGFD wanting to improve warm water lakes is good news. I was looking around this morning and found that texas keeps a stocking history on their website for all their lakes. If you take a minute and look at the premier lakes you will see that most of them have received constant stocking of lm since the late 90s or so. AZGFD currently spends a ton of money stocking trout, but I am not aware of any lm stocking other than after the kills on the Salt River lakes.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fishboat...ck_water.phtml

[Fish Manager]

Spoonplugger,

No, that 33% in fish production is everything (production, delivery, staffing, equipment, etc for State lakes) for our hatchery system. Our hatcheries do not produce fish for the urban program. The urban program buys 100% their fish from outside sources.

The 33% in fish management includes fish surveys, angler surveys, water quality, staffing, compliance documents in support of fisheries related projects, purchase of fish (other than trout) for stocking, equipment, etc.