2025 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 8
BY SENATORS CATHEY AND LUNEAU
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To commend the Sport Fish Restoration Program, a part of the American System of
Conservation Funding, on its seventy-fifth anniversary.
WHEREAS, more than a century ago, hunters and anglers were among the first
conservationists who realized America's natural resources were in peril and could not sustain
unregulated harvest and habitat destruction; and
WHEREAS, sportsmen and women took it upon themselves to support laws that
stopped excessive harvest of fish and wildlife, established state agencies to protect fish,
wildlife, and their habitat, and supported special fishing and hunting license fees to help fund
the new agencies' efforts to provide healthy natural resources for future generations; and
WHEREAS, the Legislature of Louisiana then and now recognizes that the primary
authority to protect and manage fish within the state waters resides within state agencies; and
WHEREAS, upon realizing that license fees alone were insufficient to restore and
sustain healthy fish populations, anglers supported excise taxes on fishing equipment to raise
additional funds to support restoration and enhancement efforts of state agencies; and
WHEREAS, the Sport Fish Restoration Program, which began seventy-five years ago
with the passage of the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act in 1950, and further
expanded with the Wallop-Breaux amendment to the Sport Fish Restoration Act in 1984, is
a vital part of conservation funding in the United States; and
WHEREAS, a manufacturer's excise tax on fishing equipment, along with an excise
tax on motorboat and small engine fuels, are mostly distributed back to the states through
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for fisheries conservation, management, and angler and
boater access; and
WHEREAS, this cooperative partnership between the sportfishing industry, anglers,
boaters, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and state natural resource agencies has resulted
in the most successful model of fisheries management in the world, restoring and enhancing
populations across the United States and its territories; and
WHEREAS, since 1939, the combined contribution of the Wildlife and Sport Fish
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Restoration Programs and license fees to state fish and wildlife agencies exceeds seventy-
eight billion dollars, more than any other single conservation effort in American history,
which constitute, collectively, the American System of Conservation Funding.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
recognize America's anglers, boaters, the sportfishing industry, state fish and wildlife
agencies, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for their leading role in restoring healthy
populations of fish and aquatic resources, both game and nongame, to the abundance we see
today with the help of the Sport Fish Restoration Program, in its seventy-fifth year of the
program's establishment as part of the American System of Conservation Funding.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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