Ron Schara: The state of fishing in the State of Fishing needs work

Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

Come winter, Minnesota is the State of Hockey. For the rest of the year, however, Minnesota easily can claim to be the State of Fishing.

Nearly one-third of us wet a line at least once a year, a participation rate second only to Alaskans.

We buy more than 1 million resident fishing licenses a year at a cost of roughly $20 million. And some 300,000 nonresidents fork over upward of $10 million in license fees for the privilege of fishing in the State of Fishing.

Did I mention fishing boats? Minnesota leads the nation in boat ownership per capita and ranks second only to Florida in the total number of registered boats with about 830,000 watercraft plying our lakes and rivers.

Now add Minnesota's fishing related businesses: resorts, lodges, marinas, fishing tackle and boat retailers, guides, travel expenses and … don't forget minnows!

Maybe you thought fishing is a bunch of folks watching a bobber and waiting for a bite? Wrong, fish breath. Fishing in Minnesota is a keeper — producing a $4.2 billion economic engine including an estimated 27,000 jobs.

Now let's set the hook: In the last 10 years, how much of your tax money — the general fund controlled by the Legislature — has been appropriated to the DNR to manage our fish populations, stock our lakes, update our hatcheries, fix our boat accesses, maintain DNR's fisheries staff?

The answer is … ZERO. Or close to it. What? How could this be? How do our lawmakers expect Minnesota to be the State of Fishing if we don't invest in the business of fishing? Good question.

I asked Gov. Tim Walz this question last year and he replied: If your legislators don't hear from you, they tend to think all is well.

While I have no surveys, it's likely that the number of legislators who are actively engaged in fishing has declined over time. If so, fishing issues are not uppermost among their legislative concerns.

To convince our legislators that not all is well in the State of Fishing, MN-FISH will again try to deliver that message, asking Walz and/or legislators to propose budgets or bonding bills to inject $60 million to update DNR fish hatcheries and $37 million to repair public boat accesses. Those requests are minimums. We also support budget increases for DNR's fisheries operation.

And, hey lawmakers, don't even think of raising fishing license fees. Historically, state anglers support license fee increases in the name of paying your own way. However, past legislators and governors have continually failed to include state tax dollars to help manage our fishing-related resources.

The result today is an economic hole that license fees alone cannot cover. For example, the cost to repair one Mille Lacs boat access may exceed $1 million. To repair and update all DNR fish hatcheries, the price tag is more than $92 million. Yes, some DNR fish hatcheries were built in the 1950s and are relics in fish-raising technology.

It's fair to say the sport of fishing contributes to Minnesota's way of life. It's also fair to say all state taxpayers should be willing to support our fishing resources, even if you don't fish. Sadly, our legislators and governors haven't heard that message.