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Ron started out by congratulating club. He spoke of the importance, that angers get together and among each other discuss things not only about catching fish but what’s going on in the state of fishing and fish management.
MN-FISH formed about six years ago in 2018. They were inspired to advocate for all of us who love fishing. Their mission was to align support with the legislature that we weren't previously getting.
Our legislature, just to give an example, hadn't invested any of our tax dollars on fishing or fish management for over a decade. Fishing is a $4.4 billion economic engine in Minnesota and our legislature outside of your fishing license money was not investing in the infrastructure to support the resources and accesses.
MN-FISH shared this lack of support with the legislature, commissioner of the MN-DNR Sarah Stroman and governor Tim Walz to advocate on the behalf of fishing in Minnesota. Governor Walz listened and agreed, that investing in fishing was important and he added $115 million to his budget to improve our hatcheries and boat accesses.
$98 million was awarded specifically for hatcheries and some boat accesses. It was a great success that doesn't cover everything, but it was a record/historical contribution that our lawmakers have spent on fishing in this state.
Currently MN-FISH is advocating for funding a new metro hatchery site. The Saint Paul Fish Hatchery on Warner Road was built 125 years ago and is still operating to the credit of the amazing folks running the hatchery. A complete rebuild will positively impact our fisheries and the community. We would love to provide school programs that provide kids the opportunity to learn about fish hatchery science and see it firsthand.
Ron mentioned that "Some of this is our fault. We would sit around and talked about what needs done but not rise it up to the legislators, which is needed to bring attention to these important issues. One of the keys to MN-FISH success was to raise funds to support professional lobbyists. We learned straight away the necessity, its the game you have to play and they did a great job for us. They helped open the doors to secure the $98 million"
Interesting fact learned was that there are approximately 3000 boat accesses in this state but only about 1500 of them are under DNR's management.
The rebuilt Waterville hatchery will soon become a state-of-the-art facility that Minnesota has never seen before. It's going to take a few years to get it finished, but they already have it in the works.
What we hope to do this year, is to get an annual appropriation from the legislature for the States fisheries section, so it's automatic funding and not an annual request.
Special thanks to Ron for joining our club to talk about the state of fishing in Minnesota. We had an amazing meeting and appreciate you sharing your personal stories and the interaction with our club members questions.
Ron asked us all to learn more about MN-FISH and sign up for their newsletter.
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