AUGUSTA — With hunting seasons underway in Maine, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife wants hunters to be aware that there is a new registration fee.

A $5 registration fee will be collected at tagging stations during the hunting season. The fee, which was approved by the Maine Legislature, aids in the collection and processing of registration and biological information regarding big game.

Tagging stations receive $1 to collect information and the department receives $4 to support the costs associated with inputting, processing and analyzing the collected data.

“This fee is critical to the management of all big game species in Maine,” said Lee Kantar, IF&W deer and moose biologist. “Without this fee increase, we would be in an extremely difficult situation as to how we currently register big game species and collect critical information about these species that guide our management decisions.”