Oberstar wants to find less costly, more tactful way to aid guides

U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., is chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which oversees the U.S. Coast Guard.

In an interview last week, Oberstar, whose district includes northeast Minnesota, said he was aware the Coast Guard had begun enforcing its "6-Pack" licensing requirements on fishing guides in Minnesota, including those who work on Lake Vermilion and in the Ely area, in his district.

Oberstar attributed the Coast Guard's enforcement of the decades-old requirement -- which for as long has not been enforced -- to "a new attitude, a new spirit of compliance and regulatory enforcement" at the Coast Guard under the Obama administration.

He said he has heard concerns about the licensing requirement from guides in Texas and Oklahoma and on Lake Tahoe and the Snake River out west.

Oberstar acknowledged that asking part-time guides to bear the test-preparation cost of "up to $1,200" amounted to "a financial hardship."

"I don't know the specifics of the course," Oberstar said. "I've asked my staff to reach out to guides in Minnesota and establish a meeting in December or January to hear what their thoughts are.

"I don't think exempting guides from the requirement is appropriate. But I'd like to explore finding less costly, less onerous ways for guides to become licensed. I also want to find out why it's taken the Coast Guard 100 years to enforce this requirement."

Oberstar -- who said the Coast Guard should give guides time to comply "instead of just swooping down on them" -- is attempting to determine whether a 6-Pack test-preparation course can be offered at Vermilion Community College in Ely in advance of enforcement of the licensing requirement in the northeast, beginning in spring.

DENNIS ANDERSON