No more portable house liscences in MN
Fee dropped for portable fishing shelters
Doug Smith,star tribune
Minnesota's ice anglers won't have to license their portable fishing shelters any more -- unless they plan on leaving them on the ice overnight.
That's the result of a new law passed by the 2007 Legislature. Owners of about 60,000 portable shelters will be affected. Few portable shelters are left on the ice overnight.
Ice fishing shacks left overnight, which obviously would include most of the state's 90,000 permanent shelters, still must be licensed.
"The Legislature decided we shouldn't be licensing portables anymore," said Bob Meier, assistant commissioner in charge of government relations for the Department of Natural Resources. "They wanted to give people with portable shelters a break."
That saves anglers with portable she! lters $11.50 a year but would cost the DNR about $768,000 in lost revenue. So the Legislature increased nonresident fishing license fees to offset that loss.
The cost of nonresident individual fishing license, now $34, will increase to $37.50 next year. The increase is expected to raise about $680,000 yearly.
Nonresident anglers took another hit: A $2 surcharge for aquatic invasive species management also is being added to all nonresident fishing licenses.
With the usual $1 issuing fee, that means a nonresident individual will pay $40.50 for a Minnesota fishing license. The state sells about 266,000 nonresident fishing licenses yearly.
Minnesota residents pay a $5 invasive species surcharge every three years with their boat registration fees.
