Fees from hunting and fishing licenses support a variety of DNR programs and research efforts that make Maryland a better place for all of its human and wildlife inhabitants!

The majority of funding for Maryland’s Wildlife & Heritage Service comes from hunting licenses and fees, and from a federal excise tax on sport hunting devices and ammunition. About 98 percent of Maryland’s state budget for wildlife programs comes from these two sources. Other sources of funds include grants and the Chesapeake Bay and Endangered Species Fund, to which donations are made through the Maryland Income Tax Form.

Hunters’ dollars are used for hunter education programs, enforcement of wildlife regulations, wildlife-related education programs, wildlife and habitat management and research projects, and to manage Maryland’s 100,000 acre Wildlife Management Area system.

Meanwhile, DNR’s Fisheries Service receives funding from four different sources: general tax dollars, federal funds, reimbursable funds and special funds. The majority of funding is from special funds, which include fees from fishing licenses, lease or rent payments and gasoline sales tax.

Fisheries funds are used to help to fund its many innovative projects and services - for example, fishery management planning, oyster restoration and management, analysis and assessment of estuarine and marine fisheries, permits and reports, quota management, fish health, bay bottom mapping, fisheries publications, fish hatcheries, invasive species research, and youth outdoor education programs - among hundreds of other activities that they perform to help protect and restore Maryland’s fish and fish habitat. Please visit www.dnr.maryland.gov/fisheries/ to explore all of DNR’s Fisheries programs.

- Bob Beyer, Deputy Director
Wildlife & Heritage Service
Maryland Department of Natural Resources

- Gina Hunt, Deputy Director
Fisheries Service
Maryland Department of Natural Resources