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June 5 03 Pawlenty Dear Governor Pawlenty, Recently, a potential investor contacted me. He is interested in lending capitol to my fish farm or any other fish farm in Minnesota. I am wrestling with the question of whether to consider his offer or to advise him to look for a farm in another state. The issue is not state taxes. It is an issue of a state agency being allowed to deliberately inhibit the development of an industry and to retaliate against citizens without impunity. I am referring to the anti-aquaculture attitude of the MN DNR Fisheries division. Raising fish has been my lifelong dream. I worked very hard in school and graduated with honor from the top aquaculture program in the U.S. But, my education did not prepare me for trying to start a fish farm in a state where the DNR is allowed to issue a license and then deny the license exists, retaliate with impunity and to ignore state statutes. I work a 40 hour job besides the farm. I mow nearly a mile of pond dike with a push mower and weed eater, pull a 200’ net by hand about 30 times each season by myself plus all the things necessary to make this dream work. In spite of all of that effort I feel like I waste more energy defending the license given to me by the DNR from the DNR. Two years ago, shortly after I filed an ethics complaint against one of the top level Fisheries staff I was denied a permit to import and stock a fish species that has been on my farm license since 1996. The permit was denied by the same Regional Fisheries manager who had approved the ponds for that species. I have the signed documents. The permit denial cost my small farm over $10,000. The complaint for giving false testimony to the legislature was dismissed because the Minnesota ethics statute does not prohibit state employees from lying to the legislature. It did no good to explain to the Regional Fisheries manager that he had approved my ponds for all species. It also did no good to explain that my ponds were approved for all species to the Director of Fisheries. I had even raised and reported raising that very species to the DNR the previous year. I complained to the DNR Commissioner Garber and then Governor Ventura. No one did a darn thing! The DNR requires the farmer to license a pond for specific species and then requires the farmer to ask permission a second time to put fish in the pond. They call that case-by-case basis. We are all human and I would have been satisfied with a simple whoops we made a mistake here’s your import permit and let it go at that. Instead it snowballed. The Fisheries Regional manager who signed the pond approvals for all species and then later claimed they were not approved said that he was confused by the word “all”. He later stated that I needed his permission to sell my fish in Minnesota. That is incorrect. I asked his supervisor eight times if the statement was incorrect and the supervisor steadfastly refused to admit the statement was incorrect. I then filed a legislative claim against Fisheries. It was heard and laid over until next session. I will have to waste another vacation day at the Capitol to give my testimony a second time. This never should have escalated like this because the statutes are clear on this issue. At least seven DNR staff have been involved in this issue but it still remains unresolved. There is no place in the Minnesota government where a taxpayer can be heard when a state agency retaliates against them. Instead we are forced to try to work it out with the abuser. It’s like telling a battered wife that she must convince her husband to stop. My experience with Fisheries is not unique. Nearly every fish farmer I’ve spoken with has told similar stories of damaging arbitrary decisions. Most are afraid to speak up because of fear of retaliation like I have experienced. I’ve even had fish farmers tell me that Fisheries has beaten the honesty out of them. That puts our resources at risk. No matter how hard they try to comply with state regulations the DNR Fisheries will deliberately trip them up. Aquaculture has the potential to become a major farm industry in Minnesota but not as long as the DNR Fisheries acts like a bunch of state sponsored thugs. We need some place in government where issues like this receive an objective review. I am so disgusted with the Minnesota government I have requested that my name be taken off the voter list. I faithfully voted for 30 years because I thought it was my responsibility but I no longer feel that way. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, John Reynolds Midwest Fish and Crayfish 26385 County Road 3 Merrifield MN 56465 (218) 829-7974 daytime (218) 765-3030 home
cc. Representative Dale Walz Senator Paul Koering |