text:  and that is all commercial ocean operators required to pay a $1 fee for each one of their customers, and that fee will now be in place through at least 2031. Those funds go to the Department of Land and Natural Resources for conservation of our precious marine ecosystems. The department began collecting fees this year. The fund is support from environmental groups, too, Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, among them. Some ocean operators have petitioned the state ledge to delay funding