Minnows vs. Ducks
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The Minnesota House is now in hour eight in the debate over the environment and natural resources budget bill. It's been a long and often dull debate (no offense lawmakers). One issue that caught my interest was the debate over an amendment that would reduce the number of fish farms. Apparently there's a belief that the environmental impact of fish farms is reducing the duck population. Duck hunters don't like that since the state's duck population is already dwindling.
But..
The state's bait shops like the fish farms because that's where they get their minnows. Minnows are used for fishing and fishing is big business in Minnesota. I never knew such a debate over minnows and water levels could draw such passions. At one point during the debate, Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Gover City, said:
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"This is the worst minnow disaster since Gilligan."
Apparently lawmakers aren't the only ones talking minnows and ducks and water levels. Check out the debate on this forum.
The debate over this issue lasted at least an hour and was settled with a promise to study the issue and restrict some fish farm licenses.
There's one other reason this issue was enlightening.
It's the first time House DFLers openly disagreed with each other on the House floor since they took the majority.
