Summers can’t be more perfect than those that settle on Minnesota. The weather is mild, the fish are biting and there are ten thousand places to catch them – it says so, right there in the state slogan. This summer, however, Minnesota isn’t so cordial and inviting to anglers who haven’t gotten around to buying a license yet.
In fact, unless you’ve already got a fishing license, you can’t get one now. Maybe you can’t even get to a boat ramp because the state park gate leading to it is locked. Blame politics. Because of squabbling over the state budget, governmental services have more or less been closed down by the governor. As part of the program, access – or lack thereof – to natural resources is being used as one of the bludgeons to beat recalcitrant legislators over the head. Because Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources is dependent to some degree on money from the state’s General Fund, it has to go along for the ride.
Minnesota license dealers aren’t selling licenses so, theoretically, a person who wants to go fishing can’t buy a license to do so until the issue is settled. However, lest you think that you can go fishing for free in Minnesota until the budget dispute is settled, be aware that the DNR has managed to put 186 officers in the field to enforce fish and game laws.
Can you imagine? Each year, several million vacationers head to the Star of the North to fish, albeit temporarily, in thousands of lakes and more than 15,000 miles of rivers and streams. They’re lured to Minnesota by walleyes, bass, muskies and other species, and the dollars they pour into the Game and Fish Fund help stock millions more walleyes and bass and build more boat ramps.
Minnesota is among the top three freshwater fishing destinations in the country, behind Florida and Texas as far as number of anglers. It’s also at the top in terms of the money spent on fishing and boating. Fishing licenses account for more than $24 million a year and because excise taxes on the sale of boats, motors and tackle through the federal Dingell-Johnson are redistributed back to the states based in part on their license sales, Minnesota gets another $14 million from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service each year.
The state and people involved in the Minnesota fishing and boating business make a lot of money, and stand to lose a lot, even if the budget impasse lasts only a few more days. Perhaps those fishermen who have nothing better to do but sit around and think because they didn’t buy a license before the June 30 shutdown can ponder on this: In a state whose Game and Fish Fund should be overflowing to the point that its DNR is self-sufficient, how is it that fishing and boating are being used as pawns by politicians? And maybe that’s not just a question for fishermen in Minnesota to answer, but fishermen in every state.
The concept that natural resources must be set apart and shared for the common good rather than used for personal or political gain was accepted in this country long ago. One result is that trained managers overseen by appointed or elected officials who represent various segments of the population compose a Department of Natural Resources. There was a time when all fish and wildlife programs and agencies were supported solely by the people who enjoyed them, including hunters and fishermen. The aim was to make such agencies independent and not subject to political manipulation. That line of thinking has become unfashionable in recent years, however, and one result is reflected in Minnesota’s current situation.
Is your game and fish department as antonymous as it should be? How vulnerable to politics is its funding? Do the people on the agency’s board of directors serve you, or the politicians who appointed them? Depending on the answers that you come up with, maybe it’s time to start working on a remedy.