Past legislatures invested into making sure Minnesotans had access to our lakes through Public Water Accesses and that we had good fishing by building fish hatcheries to stock our lakes. All MN-FISH is requesting is for the state to fix what we already have.
Schara wasn’t the only one asking questions last week, as MN-FISH created this event in cooperation with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to gather perspectives from a wide base of stakeholders – anglers, retailers, tourism, manufacturers, government and others – to identify the barriers to better fishing.
Presenters included DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen, Fisheries Chief Brad Parsons, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Steve Grove, as well as several representatives of state angling groups.
Governor Tim Walz also joined the meeting and spoke. He agreed Minnesota fishing is underfunded and pledged his support for bills funding hatcheries and boat access upgrades, if passed.
The last hour of the Fishing Summit was dedicated to fielding questions from the audience.
Holsten called the Fishing Summit “an important first step” and pledged to host more Fishing Summits to answer all the questions anglers have in pursuit of better fishing.
“We accomplished a lot today, but there is much more to do going forward,” he said. “We are anxious to take what we’ve learned today and begin to work on solutions that currently stand in the way of making Minnesota the State of Fishing.”
