Jenny Gilbert

This administrative regulation establishes fees and terms for licenses, permits, and tags sold by the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

This administrative regulation is necessary for the department to establish reasonable license fees, permit terms, and the expiration dates of licenses and permits.

KRS 150.175 authorizes the types of licenses, permits, and tags that the department can issue. KRS 150.195(4)(f) requires the department to promulgate an administrative regulation establishing the license and permit terms and the expiration date of licenses and permits. KRS 150.225 requires the Department to prescribe reasonable fees for licenses, permits, and registrations authorized by Chapter 150. KRS 150.620 authorizes the department to charge reasonable fees for the use of lands and waters it has acquired for wildlife management and public recreation.

This administrative regulation fulfills the requirements and purposes of the statutes identified in (1)(c) by establishing reasonable fees and terms for licenses, permits, and tags issued by the Department.

This amendment creates a resident and nonresident experimental commercial fishing methods program permit that is tiered into a tier I and tier II category. It also moves the fish transportation permit to the correct section based on KRS 105.180(6).

This amendment is necessary to create the new experimental commercial fishing methods program permits and establish the pricing for each and fix an error in the location of the fish transportation permit.

See (1)(c) above.

See (1)(d) above.

Commercial fishermen wishing to experiment with special gear and methods will be positively influenced by the addition of these permit options and the associated experimental methods program. All businesses and organizations affected by the presence of invasive carp in their area will be positively influenced through the potential removal of more invasive carp from the water.

Purchasers of the above permits will be allowed to use fishing gear and methods that are not traditionally allowed to be used by commercial fishers in the attempt to catch more invasive carp in Kentucky waters.

See (2)(a) above.

Experimental commercial fishing methods program permit holders will be allowed to use fishing gears/methods not traditionally allowed for commercial fishing and potentially allow the permit holder to catch more invasive carp.

There will be no cost to the department to implement this administrative regulation.

There will be no additional cost to the department on a continuing basis.

The source of funding is the State Game and Fish Fund.

There will be no need for fee increases at the state level.

See (4)(b)

No. Tiering is not applied because every eligible person will have to pay the same price for each particular permit issued.

KRS 150.175, 150.195, 150.225, and 150.620.

KDFWR will be impacted by this amendment.

There should be no additional expenditures for the first year.

Additional revenues should be realized through the sale of new permit types and the increased fees associated with nonresident licenses and permits. It is estimated additional revenues should be approximately two million dollars assuming similar sales volumes as our prior license year.

There should not be any cost savings for the first year.

Subsequent years should be roughly equal to the first year in regards to expenditures, revenues, and cost savings.

There shouldn’t be a direct impact upon any local entities.

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N/A, however, the removal of invasive carp from Kentucky waters should indirectly provide a positive economic benefit for local governments.

Commercial fishers participating in the experimental methods program and nonresident sportsmen purchasing licenses and permits.

The expenditure for individuals participating in the experimental methods program will increase based upon the permit type they qualify for and purchase (from $800 to $2,400 per permit). Expenditures for nonresident sportsmen will vary based upon the licenses and permits purchased (from $10 to $50 per license or permit).

The amount of revenue generated in the first year for commercial fishers is unknown but by utilizing experimental methods, the fishers should be able to recoup some of the permit costs or may achieve a net profit based upon increased harvests. No revenues will be generated for nonresident sportsmen.

The experimental commercial fishing methods program permits will not generate cost savings in the first year but will potentially allow commercial fishers to harvest more invasive carp and generate more revenue for themselves. No cost savings will be realized by nonresident sportsmen.

Subsequent years should be roughly equal to the first year in regards to expenditures, revenues, and cost savings.

Fiscal impact of this regulation will be a net positive for the Commonwealth and its citizens. The precise benefits to commercial fishers is unknown and highly dependent upon the success of the experimental methods program participants choose to implement. The fiscal benefit to the Commonwealth in regard to the increase of certain nonresident permit fees would be approximately two million dollars each year, assuming consistent sales of nonresident licenses and permits as compared to our prior license year.

The amount of the fiscal benefit was calculated based upon the increased nonresident license and permit costs if an equal number of non-resident licenses and permits are sold as were sold in the prior license year, and based upon the anticipated type and number of new experimental methods permits to be sold in the first year (one nonresident tier II, and three resident tier I permits).

This administrative regulation will not have a major economic impact as defined above.

For nonresident license and permit sales and experiment methods permit sales, all negative impact upon the individual purchasers will be directly offset by a positive impact to the Commonwealth. Additionally, the negative impact to the limited number of commercial fishermen who voluntarily participate in the experimental methods program for the cost of their associated permit. The use of experimental methods will provide the potential for greater income to the fishermen who participate through the sale of invasive carp harvested and may result in a net positive impact for those individuals.