I opened this business in…

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019-0518

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I opened this business in Zone 15 on May 1st, 2015 and so far have had a very successful 4.5 years of business. I estimate that 80% of my sales are all in live bait/minnows.
However, now the Ministry is trying to stop the movement and sales of Emerald shiners and River fish in specific zones/regions.
95% of my live bait/minnows come from the south and 5% of them come from the north. During the winter months Emerald shiners are the major seller for my business which contributes to the majority of my winter sales. All of the Emerald shiners are bought from south of us as they come from the Great Lakes.
If it comes down to this ruling, the bait harvesters won’t be able to deliver to specific areas/zones, then for one my business will end up closing as minnows are the main source of income in my store/business, not to mention I am pretty positive that many other mom and pop shops will end up closing as well. It will also have a pretty major effect on the harvesters as well as they will be losing major business as they will be losing a great number of their delivery locations.
In the end my opinion is that by making so many more rules and regulations and boundaries that other people (the general public) will go about getting their preferred minnows (Emerald shiners) from outside of their zone and take a chance on not getting caught and bring them back across the zones in which if this ruling goes through, we are not allowed to get bait from. There are not near enough conservation officers to do constant patrolling and check all of the lakes to prevent this from happening. It should be mandated that minnows be tested and sold in and to all zones as long as the tests come back free from VHS. This testing was started 10 years ago and to my knowledge has been done by the harvesters at their expense. So why can’t this testing still be continued and keep things the way that it is right now?
Diseases and invasive species aren't just transported via minnows (harvesters), they also travel via birds and animals, and boats/trailers. There needs to be more put in place to stop all of this, it shouldn't just be put on us(the harvesters and dealers)..