Invasive Species "Writing Citations will be the norm"

[fishermusk]

I agree with fishgutz. These new rules are stupid and will not help stop the spread of these invaders. Ducks spread some of these weeds. My boat does not leak and I am opposed to removing the plug. Someone is going to drown because they will forget to replace the plug, who's to blame then?

[goblueM]

Someone is going to drown because they will forget to replace the plug, who's to blame then?

uhhhh.... are you really asking that question?

[LMITOUT]

Stupid? I'm not sure if we should go that far.

As with anything, unless a policy has some teeth people aren't going to pay attention. Can invasive species be spread by waterfowl or other animals? Maybe. But I think we can agree that its pretty hard to enforce that, though. The only place that can we can attempt to prevent the spread of invasive species is human activity. Is this a fruitless effort? Hard to say. I suppose one less boat carrying invasives to a clean lake is just that much less of a possibility that particular lake becomes added to the list of lakes with invasive species.

All we can hope for is some common sense in the enforcement of these laws. Ticketing everybody is only going to deter people from wanting to fish, and that is not the direction we should be heading with the decline of young people taking up the sport of fishing.

[goblueM]

+1 lmit

[PurpleFloyd]

The only way to prevent the spread( If there is a way) is to just prevent boats from going into more than one body of water. That would be a hard pill to swallow but anything short of that opens the chance of spread.

In one article above it was stated that it might be cheaper to pass the cost down than to make the actual offenders( Large ships with ballast water) comply with keeping invasive species out.I wonder if limiting every boat to a single body of water would impact the economy less? My guess is no.

[LMITOUT]

So I'm paging through the 2011 Minnesota Fishing Regulations as well as the 2011 Minnesota Boating Guide and there is only a one page blip about invasives in the Boating Guide (pg 23). Very vague and not as detailed as what you'd see in the fishing regs. Why wouldn't they exhibit the same concern in both publications?

BTW, on page 66 you can order your free "Check the Drain Plug" sticker. (where is the money coming from to make these?)

Remember on NBC Nightly News when they had the "Fleecing of America" segment? We can chalk up the sticker idea to the "Dumbing Down of America".

[Grum]

All we can hope for is some common sense in the enforcement of these laws. Ticketing everybody is only going to deter people from wanting to fish, and that is not the direction we should be heading with the decline of young people taking up the sport of fishing.

[swamptiger]

Quote:

All we can hope for is some common sense in the enforcement of these laws.

Looks like that sticker is a real good start.

[JohnMickish]

I talked about this a few months ago, I told you guys they where serious about this. If you think Minnesotas rules are crazy, check out the western states rules. How about having to have your boat cleaned at your cost and certified invasive free before you can put it in a invasive free lake. Our rules aren't so bad anymore.

Anyways, it's not so much the milfoil they want to stop, it's the zebra muscles. I'm on lake Erie right now and what they have here I do not want that on our lakes. If your line touches anything in the water other than a fish, it's cut or frayed to the point of a retie, and I mean anything. The bottom is solid zebras.

[fishermusk]

Someone will drown. These laws are stupid.

Most people are always in favor of more regulation to solve our problems, why can't we fix most problem with education and peer pressure?

[Sutty]

The DNR and State are currently in the process of ceding the river from the cities south to the carp invasion. Didn't do a thing to stop them even though they jump in on the lawsuit suing Illinois from not stopping them in Chicago

They still have yet to stop the ballast dumping and they know that is the source for many invasive's

This is just another ticky tack thing for them to make money on and justify themselves. Just think of the party they can throw on Mille Lacs for other state's CO's next year!

[BobT]

So where were these concerned pillers of evnviornmental science 20 years ago when we had a chance of slowing them down?

Z-mussels, millfoil, mystry snails,spiney water fleas,round gobie were not a phenom unknown to the DNR, the EPA, and other agency's charged with protecting out waters so again where were they?

And now that the herd is out of the barn they want to start fining us.

These agency's are the only ones authorized to to any thing and they sat on there hands and are still sitting on their hand as far as the great lakes are concerned.

I think that maybe responsible outdoorsmen in an already established credible organiztion should consider a class action suit against the state that allowed this to happen,.

We pay taxes to these agency's to do this sort of protection work but they would rather fight battles like the clam near the new still water brigde that may get displaced.

Hope you feel you got your moneys worth because the fines will not pay for what is needed to fight this, it will only pay for the weed nazi's at the landings.

Sorry for the rant but this is really upsetting.

We whine that they "failed to protect our waterways" and then in the same breath whine about having to follow rules. Perhaps if we would have paid attention when they were warning us decades ago and took steps on our own they wouldn't have to force us to do so now. The truth is we are too greedy, lazy, and careless to do our part unless laws are passed to force it upon us.

[Duffman]

The truth is we are too greedy, lazy, and careless to do our part unless laws are passed to force it upon us.

Yep

[Sutty]

I respectfully disagree. We are easy targets to make money off of for them. How much can we control the ballast dumping or the carp swimming up stream now. They can and don't. They are too lazy to fight the big fight but are great at being revenuers.

[Ed Carlson]

I have always tried to clean out well at the ramp, nothing new here to me. But now we need to do a nextra vigilant job of it.

I'm not feeling too bent out of shape on the new reg's, I'll adapt. We all can do better on this issue with very little hassle involved.

[fishgutz77]

You missed the point.

It's only our responsbility to act on what is known.

This is why we elect people and pay them and they consistantly fail.

they had the power to curtail this and act promptly and did not. 20 years ago.

and now they want in my boat. Generally people are not lazy or greedy and will go to great lengths to protect the resource and spend lots of money chasing fish.

Paying attention is a private thing and a good effort, but where was the legislation and enforcment that can only be none by the state!

[mainbutter]

Someone will drown.

Natural selection at work.

Seriously, what are people doing not wearing a life vest if you can't swim back to shore from the maximum distance a boat w/o a plug can drive before sinking?

No policy should be dictated by a freak 1/100,000 occurence.

I much prefer common-sense policies such as "don't transport lake water" over the stickers and constant costly inspections/cleanings.

[reinhard1]

that was my point earlier. "free sticker with a taxpayer price". many will say, it's a small price to pay. for what? i bet the great majority of fishermen have been pulling the plug before the genious behind this sticker idea was born. most fishermen have what government lacks-common sense. good luck.

[PurpleFloyd]

Just a question as I have not been checked, but is there something that needs to be done to make sure the water intake lines are free from hitchhikers? Do they do any sort of inspection of the cooling lines on the motors to make sure that they aren't hiding any hitchhikers?

[fishermusk]

The truth is we are too greedy, lazy, and careless to do our part unless laws are passed to force it upon us.

I don't believe this to be true.

[delcecchi]

Just a question as I have not been checked, but is there something that needs to be done to make sure the water intake lines are free from hitchhikers? Do they do any sort of inspection of the cooling lines on the motors to make sure that they aren't hiding any hitchhikers?

I don't know about the plumbing in the boat, although it seems to drain on its own since it hasn't broken over the winter yet. Outboard cooling systems drain themselves. Now about those I/Os and inboards.... Probably they need to be banned since they don't drain automatically.

[CarpinMNRiver]

Why didn't they do this years ago before the invasive species were already in dang near every lake. It is like beating a dead horse....it may be fun but rather pointless.

[RumRiverRat]

These Stop and Inspect Stations are not going to hold up in court.

Same reason DUI Checkpoints are not legal in MN.

If you are hauling a watercraft you will be subjected to unreasonable searches.

The protection of our natural resources is a good thing, just not at the cost of freedoms and liberties.

This "NEW" push to stop the spread is too little too late.

More misguided enforcement of laws passed by our misguided politicians at the behest of the MN DNR.

[Brad B]

Rumriverrat,

totally agree with you. if I am out on the road with my boat and I encounter one of these I will stop and exit my truck but the doors goes locked and they won't get my permission to check in the truck because like you said that falls under unreasonable search so they would be violating your civil right and the amendment that prohibit unreasonable search and seziure(i believe it is the 4th amend).

[mainbutter]

invasive species were already in dang near every lake.

Zebra mussels aren't too wide spread. They're in a couple big lakes, and frankly these are the ones I care most about not being spread. Asian carp come in second, simply because the likelihood of them being spread by minimal water transport is unlikely. Pretty much every single small lake I fish is zebra mussel free.