I do not believe the Penalty is nearly enough. With all of the advertising and notices posted about Invaisive Species and the damage as a result of an infestation, the Penalties should be much more than a Misdemeanor.
Give it a rest Carroll. Do you want to charge the ducks with felonies too?
IGNORANCE is BLISS HUH??????
No reason that boat lift wasn’t cleaned off. That’s just plain ignorant on his part and glad they caught him.
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IGNORANCE is BLISS HUH??????
So what you are saying is, someone should go to prison and have their whole life ruined for moving their lift without wiping it off?
With the same logic, if you forget to wipe your boat off when leaving a river and have a zebra mussel hanging on your trailer bunk you should go to state prison?
Let me understand this: Are you suggesting felony charges for transporting invasive species? If so, YOU ARE INSANE!Thats all I have to say.
More than a misdemeanor?? What would you suggest, a felony so the person loses his rights to vote and carry a gun? Seems a bit steap for something that will never stop no matter how clean that lift could have been. 
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AIS AIS AIS
The more I hear about it the more convinced I am that it’s just another way for the goverment to have more control over public bodies of water.
Ryan your being ignorant. See ya in the mornning 
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IGNORANCE is BLISS HUH??????
So what you are saying is, someone should go to prison and have their whole life ruined for moving their lift without wiping it off?
With the same logic, if you forget to wipe your boat off when leaving a river and have a zebra mussel hanging on your trailer bunk you should go to state prison?
If you are IGNORANT and fail to follow the “Best Management Practices” there needs to be more than a $300 Fine for potentially Ruining a whole Lake and in this case a Chain of Lakes.
If I wash my boat including livewell, bilge and trailer down, I am doing one of the Best Management Practices, Only thing better that is recommended is letting it sit and dry for 5-15 days depending whom you ask.
The area this happened was blanketed with information and warnings about moving equipment (Docks, Boats and Lifts, etc.) In this case, I would say the Seller also holds some responsibility, unless he passed the warnings onto the buyer.
If someone is that IGNORANT, then YES!, Send them to Jail for a while and Ban them from any Lake Use Activities for a period of time.
Agree to disagree, but personal attacks are not allowed gentalmen.
boysboysboys, this was just an arraignment today. relax. the jan 17 appearance will be more interesting. we will find out what the REAL fine is then.
All said, i am in favor of stiffer fines and even confiscation of equipment. and i am NOT a liberal at all. i’d like to see it treated like DUIs because it DOES have impact on ALL of us.
Yes, there are MANY vectors for distribution that we CANNOT control, but this is one that we can at least make feeble attempts to help on.
If you’ve ever had to walk ‘barefoot’ thru a bed of zebras, you’ll understand. I was in michigan with water shoes on around the nuke south of two rivers. year round warm water. early concentration of zebras there. wind at the landing kited me and the boat off shore while we were waiting for the trailer to come. by the time we got done loading that boat, i was leaving red tracks…. NTFW.
here is the law
Transportation prohibitions
Current state law prohibits transportation of all aquatic plants (with a few exceptions). This law will not only help prevent the spread of Eurasian watermilfoil, but it will also reduce the risk of zebra mussels being transported while attached to aquatic plants. And it will reduce the inadvertent transport of other harmful plants into or within the state.
Under state law, it is unlawful to:
transport aquatic plants (see: except as allowed in statute), except as allowed in statute ($50 civil penalty or misdemeanor);
transport zebra mussels and other prohibited species of animals on a public road ($250 civil penalty or misdemeanor)
place or attempt to place into waters of the state a boat, seaplane, or trailer that has aquatic plants ($100 civil penalty), zebra mussels, or other prohibited invasive species attached ($500 civil penalty or misdemeanor).
if you don’t like it call a congressmen. the guy broke the law whether on purpose or not. the state has regulations and penalties. it would be cruel and unusual to imprison some 54 year old man for bringing zebra muscles into the lake. do your best to try and stop the spread of invasive species. let the person who is perfect throw the first stone. oh wait no one is perfect. so just do what you can do to stop the spread. let the dnr handle the violators. good luck out on the ice everyone stay safe
Here’s my gripe on the invasive species problem. We have known for a long time that non native species introduced into an environment new to them can be a problem. So did our Gov’t stop foreign ships from bringing in zebra mussels, spiny water fleas, Eurasian Milfoil, or any other host of species? Nope. Now who gets fined for the inevitable spread of them? Powerless individuals. Asian Emerald Ash Borers in Chinese wood products, did the Gov’t fumigate at the source or want to fine us for transporting fire wood? Catfish farmers brough in Asian Grass Carp to deweed ponds near the Mississippi that never floods right? Face it as individuals without financial clout are always going to bear the brunt of too little too late Gov’t action, and we get to pay for it too!
Duke
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All said, i am in favor of stiffer fines and even confiscation of equipment. and i am NOT a liberal at all. i’d like to see it treated like DUIs because it DOES have impact on ALL of us!
I guess zebra mussels are causing accidents and killing people now in your neck of the woods. Was it this guys first time caught? If so give him he should be granted leniency. If your saying just like a dwi well then your first offense most of the time is a fine of 250 and a probation fee off 120$ and 2 years probation. No jail time.
So your saying they should be punished more then a person who gets a dwi. The crimes just don’t compare to eachother.
I don’t know about you but 300 dollar donations to the judicial system isn’t how I want to spend my 300
i’m sorry. i should have been more clear. i do agree the problem was ignored for a long time. Lots of blame on that issue for everyone. being powerless is no fun.
However it’s here now and we can so some things that will help.
This guy coming in from NoDak might not have truly known anything about OUR issue, but he will learn soon up there. The spread can’t be stopped, but it can be slowed and that might help.
Jail time for a first offense of a misdemenor, of course not. This is not a foiles situation.
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Here’s my gripe on the invasive species problem. We have known for a long time that non native species introduced into an environment new to them can be a problem. So did our Gov’t stop foreign ships from bringing in zebra mussels, spiny water fleas, Eurasian Milfoil, or any other host of species? Nope. Now who gets fined for the inevitable spread of them? Powerless individuals. Asian Emerald Ash Borers in Chinese wood products, did the Gov’t fumigate at the source or want to fine us for transporting fire wood? Catfish farmers brough in Asian Grass Carp to deweed ponds near the Mississippi that never floods right? Face it as individuals without financial clout are always going to bear the brunt of too little too late Gov’t action, and we get to pay for it too!
Duke
This right here is epitome of the whole arguement. All this crap of jailing a person for transporting the invasives, unintentionally yet, is that….crap. Why not start jailing the dnr officials using boats and jet skis along with sheriff’s departments using the same to patrol our waters.
If you guys want to jail anyone, why not go back in time and levy some charges against the people in the epa and mpca and other government offices when these invasives COULD have been stopped?
They are here. Now deal with it. These invasives cannot be stopped now, but if you, who are dunning others, think there is a way to halt them, step right up and take your stations. Me, I check the trailer and clean out and off the boat. I don’t use minnows so…. . The water any fish come home in goes in my garden. Ya,ya, ya….can’t bring water off a lake. Why don’t we have a law that says you can’t take alcohol onto a public water and make some sense.
The totaly absurd thing about this story is the lake was already infected. That’s like pulling my boat out of Mille Lacs, then backing in again to straighten the boat on the trailer bunks.
This guy did nothing wrong at all in my opinion.
-J.
Sure wish plastics worked BETTER for flatheads instead of bullheads.
Going to the River with a cooler full of live bullheads and Lakeland’s tap water…and having to change the 4 gallons of water when I leave the river…even though the cooler water has not been contaminated is…well, annoying to say the least.
Guess this law effects me a little differently.
Good points Tom.
I find it incredible how some folks can’t see beyond their own self appointed righteousness and learn to see that AIS issues are going to effect fishing to a much greater degree then any of us want. The response to AIS needs to be smarter then telling folks how dumb or misguided or wrong they are for wanting to do something about it. Making funny jokes isn’t a solution. Rest assured that in 2012 the Legislature is going to be flooded with folks trying to raise penalties, restrict access and boat movement. The windbags that seem to get their jollies on this page by bashing or trying to squelch the conversation would be better served by supporting the folks who are trying to get a balanced response rather then all the chest pounding, flag waving and testosterone spraying.
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I find it incredible how some folks can’t see beyond their own self appointed righteousness and learn to see that AIS issues are going to effect fishing to a much greater degree then any of us want. The response to AIS needs to be smarter then telling folks how dumb or misguided or wrong they are for wanting to do something about it.
Step right up. Apparently you have some answers that other can’t come up with.
One reason this has such harsh over-tones is because the root of this problem is political and is also tied quite neatly to the lust for the almighty $$$. If you look at the history on how most of the invasives got here, you’ll see an alarming parallel. So here we are today wanting to hang a fellow sportsman because we have no other places to look for answers that will arrest the problem. To find a solution you have to go wayyyyyyyy back to what caused the problem in the first place. And did you know that yet today those ocean-going cargo vessels are not required by any federal law that is enforced to any certain degree to flush thier water jackets before entering inland waters? And of course any suh plan would involve getting Canada to go along with it, but that won’t work because both the Canadians and the US want to be the boss and nobody will concede.
Got a solution? Lets hear all about it. I’m all ears…. and that’s exactly why I don’t see a fix for the immediate future no matter how many good people get tossed in the slam.
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Got a solution? Lets hear all about it. I’m all ears….
Make it a point to dump a gallon of zeebs into every lake you visit until every single one is “infested”. Problem solved.
-J.
That would do it, but I don’t think it needs to be done. No law in force today will be completely enforeable so the beat goes on.
Punishment needs to fit the crime too, the way some think here, I’d be afraid of getting hung the next time I went 5mph over the speed limit.
Al
41% of all MN lakes have invasives, Personally I don’t think boat traffic has as much to do with it as the DNR claims it has.
That is a large amount of cross contamination.
Ducks,geese,swans,loons and them damm Pelicans! 
Can you imagine how many Zeebs will fit in a pelicans beek. 
I think everyone needs to quit arguing and pointing fingers. Thats gettin childish how insulted people are getting and how nit-picky every one is bein with the finger pointing. Chances are the ones who have been whining the most are the lazy ones who helped spread the little critters. Fishing boats themselves are the MAIN spreading entity. Boaters that recreationally haul tubers and skiiers tend to stay on their favorite lakes and return to that lake for more recreation. They too can pass the mussels along but not at as high of a rate as fisherman. Many fishermen (with -and with out boats like my self) lake jump. and jump.. and jump… EVERYONE needs to check boats, tackle, bait buckets, tanks, trailers, stringers, water craft and water toys. I check my tackle, and tend to leave my tackle box open in the sun. the hot Sun can help dry out little critters like the mussels and water flea etc (and yes mussels can live a while in cool damp temps out of water). We use worms and leeches and sane/trap minnows from only the lake we are at. The trap then gets cleaned and sunned. Eliminating bait buckets. Our stringers are usually metal. Easy to clean and check. my cloth stringer gets cleaned and bleached (can carry vinegar with too for lake hopping days) after we use it at one lake. We always check our line and reels too. part of that is just good equipment maintence part is to keep creepy crawlers off our stuff. We carry bottled water (well water from farm too) for washing up us and our stuff as well as for what our caught fish stay in as to not dry out or spoil on hot days of long fishin. used Water gets disposed of away from any water sources. Usually on the rhubarb plants as they like fish water and fish partd get buried in garden. IF we did use a boat, everyone would be required to participate in the cleaning off of it as well as we wouldnt need to lake jump as a whole lake is plenty enough to hunt a few fish for eats. _we have a book and a map as well as the DNR fishing rules as our pre-planners and populations and heads up of what we want to do. It is alot of work, and this problem has made fishing a bit more expensive but if nothing like this is done we and my friends kids and their future chldren wont have what I grew up with. The lazy needs to stop! Another side note…its lazy or inattentive folks that have also spread meat grubs and other parasites to other lakes via bait and releasing/culling fish from other lakes as well as from the live wells and boat water.
Critters cling in holes, on wiring, in buckets, wells, inside and out side of boats, motors intakes, exhaust ports, blades, tires, hollow trailers, lights housings, bearing caps, divits, rails, skis & ski boot pockets,bait tubs, sane nets, minnow traps, reels,docks, lifts, bumpers… EVERYTHING that has touched the water! High horse or no horse EVERYONE needs to buck up and quit the lazy. Quit the arguing. Quit the whining. And yes.. up the fine. Make a point! it costs alot to keep our lakes good. Why should one lazy jack#** after another get away with it.
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41% of all MN lakes have invasives,
Care to tell us where that statistic is coming from?
I agree all fishermen are lazy aholes.
If we just banned fishing it would be better for all and the lakes and rivers involved.
I’m with Bk. Drain all the lakes and plant corn for more ethanol. With wind towers in each one.
I’ve always been for draining lakes and making golf courses out of them—-from my point of view there isn’t much difference between lake fishing and golf anyway 
Ouch! 
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