DNR Rulemaking: Taking Fish on Minnesota-Wisconsin Boundary Waters
What is this rule about?
This rulemaking will change the rules for fishing seasons on Minnesota’s border waters with South Dakota. (Edit: typo? Wisconsin)
What will this rulemaking will do?
The proposed expedited rules are about adjusting Minnesota’s fishing on the boundary waters shared with Wisconsin to ensure consistent regulations for all anglers. The rule amendments modify possession limits for taking walleye and sauger, northern pike, channel and flathead catfish, shovelnose sturgeon, crappie, sunfish, yellow perch, and white and yellow bass in the Mississippi River, including Lake Pepin. The rule amendments also modify length limits for walleye, sauger, northern pike, channel catfish, and flathead catfish.
With few exceptions, regulations on possession and size restrictions for gamefish on the Minnesota and Wisconsin border waters of the Mississippi River have been largely unchanged since the 1940s and 1950s. The most recent changes were in 1990, when minimum size limits for bass (14 inches) and walleye (15 inches) were implemented. Over the last 20 years, however, regulations for gamefish in inland waters of both states have undergone substantial changes, and regulations on the border waters are now very different than those in either state.
In addition, aquatic habitat loss in backwaters and side channels due to sedimentation, chemical and hydrologic changes due to land use practices and climate change, and increasing abundance of invasive species all have the potential to significantly impact the long term health of fish populations on the Mississippi River. The proposed changes are intended to be a proactive measure that will allow the river to sustain high quality fish populations into future decades.
The DNR is using an expedited rulemaking procedure to make these changes effective by March 1, 2020, to coincide with Wisconsin’s similar regulation change.
Who might be affected by these rule changes?
Recreational anglers
Officials in bordering states
Where do I send my comments?
You have until 4:30 p.m. on Friday, October 4, 2019, to submit comments to the DNR contact person listed below.
You may request a hearing on these rules. If at least 100 persons submit a valid request for a hearing and a sufficient number do not withdraw their requests (reducing the number below 100), then a public hearing will be held before an administrative law judge. The Notice of Intent to Adopt Expedited Rules tells you how to submit a request for hearing to the DNR contact person.
Where can I get more information?
The following rulemaking documents posted at https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/input/rules
Rulemaking documents:
Proposed rules
Notice of Intent to Adopt Expedited Rules
If you want a free copy of the proposed rules, call or email the DNR contact person listed below.
DNR contact person: Shannon Fisher, Fish and Wildlife Division, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155-4020, 651-259-5206, [email protected]
