After reading the May 25 “Ask a C.O.,” or conservation officer, column, which was headlined, “Carry water for leftover live bait,” I got to thinking about how this entire invasive-species dilemma is playing out in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Let’s go back to the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The departments of natural resources from both states are very good at closing the barn door after the horse has escaped. Now if both states would have enacted Minnesota Statue 84D.10 subdivision 4, paragraph B, or some similar language, and used that on all ships entering the Great Lakes, perhaps we sportsmen and sportswomen would not be subject to a new series of laws and regulations when moving our boats from one location to another. I’m sure the term ballast and its use was familiar to them.
It just seems that we citizens are being penalized for the sins and misdeeds of large corporations. Perhaps it is because DNRs find it easier to go after us rather than the large-money pockets and corporate lawyers of those really responsible for this mess.
Tom Meierotto
Superior
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