Texas leads the nation in the number of people buying fishing licenses, with the 1.67 million licenses that Texans purchased a year ago topping the totals in such piscatorially popular states as California, Florida and Minnesota.

This is a good thing for Texas anglers, the fish they pursue and the state’s environmental and economic health. The $55 million or so annually generated by fishing license fees is what keeps Texas fisheries and fishing afloat. Those dollars and money from a federal excise tax on fishing tackle (distributed, in large part, based on the number of fishing licenses sold in the state) wholly fund Texas’ fisheries management efforts – research and monitoring of fisheries, hatcheries, habitat creation/enhancement, boat ramps and other public-access projects and other fisheries-related projects and programs. Without fishing-license fees, Texas fisheries – and fishing -would be dead in the water.

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