The fee increase seems reasonable to me if the funds are used to help the recreational fishermen--i.e. more access (ramps, maintaining inlets, etc.), or development of / repair of fishing piers, creation of artificial reefs, etc.

If the money is just to increase the beaurocracy, then no.

seems logical that the price should go up every now and then... prices on everthing else go up

now if the money is used by people like Dan Hoffler (past head of Va game and inland fisheries) to take trips to Africa to hunt big game because they have a small [edit] then that's another story

I feel their reasons for the increase should be explained in full and letting the public know in advance before they decided the increase . Also why it has to jump that much at once. Fishfry

I agree with Captain ( NJ1 ) If the increase goes to all those important and useful things he mention that would be great. Each time a project is being worked on there should be a sign posted saying thanks to the fishermen for their help in paying for the project . A kind of a nice jesture wouldn' t you think so ?.

Are boat liscense staying the same?

I believe an increase would be fair if funds are used for the right purposes, as mentioned above. As far as the recreational boat license goes, we should feel lucky with what we've been paying for them, and an increase there wouldn't surprise me at all. In Florida, the same license goes for $2001.50, which is in place to prevent recreational boat owners from using their vessels as a charter.

You can go to the VMRC website and see exactly where all the license money have gone. here is the link.
http://www.mrc.state.va.us/swrfdf.pdf

Looking at that list, if that's where it's all going--feel free to increase my liscence fee. I esp. like seeing the "kids day" stuff helping to bring families together and encourage the next generation of fisherpeople.