The Virginia Marine Resources Commission voted Dec. 13 to raise commercial harvest license and gear use fees for the first time in 12 years.

VMRC spokesperson Laurie Naismith said this was done to preserve core agency services in the face of a 7.5 percent budget cut. The increases will take effect in December 2017.

The increases were capped at either 5 percent or the rate of inflation since the last time a particular gear fee was established or raised, Naismith said.

Some gear fees had not been increased since the 1990s and a few had remained unchanged since 1979, the VMRC website said. ...