One thing I have to disagree with in the article is the idea people need to fish to put food on the table. Pound for pound the fish we bring home might as well be hand-massaged Kobe beef after you add up all the tackle, gas, boats, park fees, etc that it cost you to get that fish.
It's best to never add up the costs of a hobby, but, for posterity here's what a typical year's worth would look like for me with the fee increase:
$32 license
$72 fuel [6 trips at $12 gas/trip = $24 split with fishing partner]
$12 snagged lures
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$116 per year means around $10 per wild trout
So each trout is about the same cost as they'd be in a restaurant.
Considering that the rod & reel are "vintage" (1970s), it's fair to figure those costs amortized to zero.
More fishing would mean more fuel used, so the license fee would diminish as a percentage of the costs, but snagged lures would increase. Fuel is obviously the limiting factor in driving down the cost per fish, so if home was closer to fishing access or more fish were caught each trip, the costs are much lower.
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Regarding poor people incurring a hardship, I believe the minimum wage in Oregon is close to $8/hr, so it means they'd have to work 1-1.5 extra hours to pay the fee increase. Or a little over 5 hours total out of the ~2,000 work hours available in a full time job. Or... collect 650 soda cans (13 per week).
That brings up the question of if you're poor, can you afford to fish in healthier water? After all, ODFW acknowledges the pollution in the Willamette and Lower Columbia affecting people who consume fish from those waters.
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The minimalist manual boat is going to add $100-200 in costs per year just to pay for the boat, storage/transport, etc. [example: the kayak I just ordered is $300 plus $425 <gack!> for the roof rack to transport]. A power boat adds even more. Going by my figures above, it means you have to catch twice, maybe three times as many fish to make it pay... that seems a reasonable tradeoff, provided one uses the boat and doesn't let it sit & rot.