Note part about $50 boat licenses, confiscations and A-J Tournament lakes.
Tim
By Tim Spielman
Associate Editor
St. Paul — Could this be the year the DNR, legislators, and lake groups coalesce in a way that takes aquatic invasive species rules and awareness to a new level? The path is being cut.
Not only has the DNR formulated a wish list to prevent the spread of aquatic invasives in the state, but lake interests, too, are outlining rules they’d like implemented – and they’re recruiting legislators who might bring them to light in St. Paul.
Last week, nearly 250 people – including eight state representatives and senators – gathered in Detroit Lakes for the “Tri-County Aquatic Invasive Species Legislative Summit,” according to Dan Kittilson, president of the Hubbard County Coalition of Lake Associations.
“Basically, it was… to make legislators aware of the threat of invasive species and to seek their support and commitment,” Kittilson said this week. Otter Tail and Becker county officials also hosted the event.
But the summit wasn’t intended just to create awareness, Kittilson said; it was to prompt action on invasives issues.
“Hubbard County cannot afford to sit idly by and watch invasives coming into our lakes,” he said in press release announcing the summit. “We have to act now, in partnership with Becker and Otter Tail counties, to harness all available state, regional, and local resources in this fight before it’s too late and our lakes are irreparably harmed.”
Kittilson, who lives on the Mantrap Chain of Lakes near Park Rapids, said the Hubbard County COLA currently works with area resorts, as well as 29 lake associations (representing 40 lakes and 2,150 members) in the county, to share AIS information.
While Kittilson favors – once funding is secured – inspections to prevent the spread of invasives (zebra mussels are an example), along with containment of the invasives on “super-spreaders” like Mille Lacs, where zebes already exist, other groups would go further in attempting to curb AIS spread.
The Green Lake Property Owners Association in Kandiyohi County has on its website a list of recommendations.
Among them, the group advocates:
• The state acquiring decontamination equipment by way of a fee system on watercraft that enter infested waters, or through a state contract with private operators. A biennial $50 fee, they say, could generate as much as $45 million;
• A seal/tag system for boats leaving infested waters of the state, to document inspections and decontaminations;
• Contaminated water bodies should be prioritized so that resources are allocated on the basis of risk posed by “super-spreader” lakes;
• Greater regulation of fishing contests. A moratorium on fishing contests on those lakes with names beginning with letters A through J would be imposed in the year 2011 and all odd-numbered years thereafter. Those lakes with names beginning with letters K through Z would be subject to a moratorium on fishing contests in 2012 and all even-numbered years thereafter;
• Severe penalties, including confiscation of boats and trailers, when appropriate, for moving a watercraft from access areas in infested waters without certified decontamination.
The Green Lake group estimates the annual cost of its proposed program would be between $5 million and $10 million.
The DNR’s list of actions to prevent the spread of invasives includes some similarities – putting more teeth in penalties, for example. The department believes $50 and $100 fines are too low, and don’t act as deterrents.
The department also would like to see improvement in the state’s inspector program, something former DNR fisheries biologist and current fisheries activist Dick Sternberg also favors.
Sternberg, though, cautions groups to be cautious in what they demand from stepped-up AIS species programs.
“It’s going to take a lot of thought and it’s going to be expensive,” he said. “It’s going to be difficult.”
Turn too many people off with new rules, he said, and a lack of support might be the downfall of proposed legislation.
“You only get one shot at this,” he said.
Sternberg said he’d like to see decontamination facilities available for boaters at places like Mille Lacs and Minnetonka.
He believes Legacy Amendment funding should be made available for decontamination or other efforts aimed at curbing invasives.
