With
a suspected coronavrus (COVID-19) drop in Ohio fishing license sales,
it only stands to reason the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s Wildlife
Fund is also coughing and wheezing.
However,
the income derived from the sale of turkey-hunting permits is
actually robust and healthy. For now anyway, and what happens when
the ban on sales of non-resident turkey tags continues is an
economist’s headache.
As
found in a previous posting, the as-of April 13th issuance of all
Ohio fishing licenses totaled 161,975 documents. This figure
represents a 32-percent decline for the same 2019 to-date tally of
238,172 documents.
The
net result is a to-date total drop of income derived by the sale of
all fishing licenses of $567,335; from $5,327,310 to-date in 2019 to
$4,759,975 to-date this year and as of April 13. That is a drop of a
little more than 10 percent.
All
of the single-day and multi-day fishing license sales were down as
were nearly all of the multi-year fishing licenses available to
resident anglers.
And
here with the multi-day license sales revenue declines likely can be
attributed to Governor Mike DeWine’s order to cease the sale of all
licenses and permits to non-residents during the COVID-19 crisis.
Among
the examples is the three-day license sales. Here the state made $40,
230 to-date in 2019 but only $14,688 to-date this year. Likewise, the
sale of one-day Lake Erie charter licenses saw to-date revenues
decline from $3,350 in 2019 to just $923 this year.
Looking
at the sale of annual non-resident fishing licenses and one sees that
to-date in 2019 the Wildlife Division saw $485,492 go into the
Wildlife Fund. To-date this year and that figure has slipped to
$275,380, a revenue decline of $210,112.
For
the all-important resident annual a drop was also encountered. The
2019 to-day revenue generated by this category was $3,720,402.
To-date this year that figure stands at $3,112,008; or an income drop
of $608,394.
A
glimmer of gold is being seen – again, for the moment – with the
sale of spring turkey tags. In all there are six spring turkey tag
classifications but only five of them generate funds. The exception
belongs to the issuance of free spring turkey tags to disabled
veterans.
However,
combining the five categories and the Wildlife Fund has to-date
collected $45,841 more dollars; up from the $406,459 collected
to-date in 2019 to $452,300 to-date this year.
The
revenue of to-date resident (adult) spring turkey tags rose from
$298,632 to-date in 2019 to $365,490 to-date this year. This jump
represents an increase of $66,858.
Yet
noteworthy as a revenue slippage was both the to-date sales of youth
spring turkey tags as well as those sold to senior citizens.
For
youths, to-date in 2019 the Wildlife Fund collected $62,403. But for
the to-date sale of these youth licenses this year the figure was
only $29,025, a drop of $33,378 or about 53 percent.
The
revenue percentage plummet was equally severe for the sale of senior
citizen spring turkey hunting licenses. The to-date 2019 revenue
figure or this category was $18,964 while the comparable 2020 to-date
figure was $9,130, or a drop of about 48 percent.
Still,
while the sale of non-resident annual fishing licenses and the
short-term day licenses – more often than not believed to go to
out-of-staters – revenue from the sale of non-resident spring
turkey tags was actually up. And considerably so, too.
The
to-date 2019 revenue figure for non-residents was $26,480, but the
revenue generated to-date this year for the sale of non-resident
turkey tags is $48,655. That is a whopping jump of $22,175.
It
must be remembered, though, that while those non-resident turkey
hunters who have all ready bought a spring tag can use them, no
additional non-residents may purchase such a spring
wild turkey license
through the remainder of DeWine’s order.
Multiple
factors could all be impacting license sales, says Brian Banbury, the
Wildlife Division’s Executive
Administrator For Information and Education.
And
the potential mitigating reasons are
the influences
of the weather,
a change to multi-year licenses, “and possibly the current health
situation,” Banbury says.
“We
will not understand the full picture until later this year,”
Banbury said.
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
JFrischk4@gmail.com
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