Thank you Governor Pawlenty

The 2010 omnibus Game and Fish bill contained legislation that would damage our pike and muskie fisheries. It also would have caused the DNR to lose some of the money from fishing license fees. The bill also would have introduced a new license that would allow fishing with two lines which would have created added pressure for all game fish. It would have shifted fishing license revenue into a hunting access program, it would've allowed spearing of pike on Cass Lake with an amnesty provision for 'accidentally' speared musky (this would have basically legalized musky spearing), and a lot of other bad ideas the governor opposed. To top things off, there was some last-minute, shifty manuevering by Satveer Chaudhary (DFL-Fridley, chair of the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee) to add special walleye regulations for the lake on which Chaudhary owns a cabin.

This Bill was a perfect example of politicians crafting legislation to make a few constituents happy, at the cost of our shared natural resources. Politicians shouldn't be in the business of micro-managing and legislating the DNR, only to get some votes. The DNR folks trained in biology and natural resources management should be the ones to manage our natural resources based on science, not politics. Pawlenty called it "legislative overreach"

Satveer Chaudhary is now facing an ethics inquiry to determine if his actions constituted conflict of interest. He's also at risk of losing the DFL endorsement and will have tough time getting re-electeed, as he's already facing stiff opposition from DFL and IR opponents. I hope he'll be gone after the last election. If he's the chair of the committee that crafted that bill, then I say, "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, Satveer."

In the 6/2/10 edition of the Star Tribune, Dennis Anderson wrote an article, "Muskie Supporters Take Note." Anderson points out that it was only the veto of the governor that stopped this thing from becoming law. The law could have been the first step in a slippery slope that would have dramatically changed Minnesota's world-best musky resource. Anyone who wasn't following what going on has to pay better attention. Anyonw who know what was going on and didn't contact their legislators have to get off their butts next time and make sure their view point is heard. It's not too late. Contact the legislators of that committee and your local legislators to let them know that you opposed the Omnibus Game Bill of 2010, and you're glad it died on Pawlenty's desk. Check some earlier posts on this issued to find out who to contact and how to do it.

If we're ever to protect the musky resource from the pike harpooners and stupid politicians, we have to do better.

Well stated about the Pike harpooners!!!

How hypocritical can we be??? Without bringing the netting question to issue, we want the Native American spearing to cease, yet in the MN we allow our white peers to continue to spear Northern pike and we in WI to continue to spear sturgeon.

About two years ago it dawned on me regarding the sturgeon, when the native spearing issue came up, I started asking people how they felt about the reduction of sturgeon spearing and the answer I got back from the first guy was "well that how they determine their populations..." Huh????

Oh well, I am glad you got a little excited, I hope people see your passion to GET POLITICS OUT OF SCIENCE!!! I agree whole heartedly, I could go on & on, from baiting deer to changing their habits to drought and not high enough water levels, etc.

We are not making it to ML this year and that I WILL miss!!!

Mark

Good input, Mark. I could go on and on, too, especially about netting. But, to focus again on what happened in the last legislative session, the point I want to re-emphasize is that we all have to do better and defending the wonderful musky fishery that we have in Minnesota. The fact that the changes made it all the way throught the House and Senate must be a wake-up call to us all. We have to be more vigilant about following what's happening when the legislature is in session. We have to do a better job of spreading the word to other like-minded anglers. We have to be better at telling our House and Senate representatives, and the members of the working committees, how passionately we oppose proposals that will adversely impact conservation. Finally, we have to tell the appropriate representatives and committe members how we feel about fisheries conservation even when they're not in session.

It seems, in general, that those who work for change are often more active and vocal than those who are for the status quo. Far to much, we take for granted the awesome musky fishery we have, and take for granted the current regulations. In Minnesota, those who want to harpoon pike on Cass or other protected waters, those who want to fish with two lines, or those who any of the stupid ideas from the recent bill - those are the ones who seek change. Those who don't want to see the spread of spearing and its harmful affect on the pike and musky fisheries are the status quo. The results from the recent legislative session suggest that those seeking change won. Too many musky fisherman sat on the sidelines or weren't paying attention at all. The harpooners were more vocal and more effective at pushing the bill than we were at opposing it.

Like I said in the previous post - we have to do better. Please take the time to contact your House and Senate member and tell them that conservation of our fisheries, especially musky, is an important issue to you.

we should also thank him for aquiring the uss land on lake vermilion. it will be nice having that land preserved as a state park and not as more lakeshore development, imho.