As a commercial bait…

As a commercial bait harvester in BMZD I feel we should have the right to transfer bait to all other BMZ's. There has never been a problem in our BMZ as far as movement of bait and /or VHS problems. If we cannot move bait from D to E there will be a very bad shortage of sucker minnows and minnows in BMZE. They will be taking thousands of dollars out of my pocket for which the ministry doesn't seem to care. Ban all movement of bait from south of highway 17 to stop them from coming north. As it goes now, as a bait dealer harvester, it is already illegal for me to buy bait south of highway 17 and bring it to my bait shop and sell to an angler but the problem is they allow the angler to go and buy their bait south of highway 17 and allow them to bring their bait here and use them to fish. Possession of bait in native brook trout lakes has never been a problem. We live in a BMZ area that is 95% trout lakes. If we cannot possess bait in brook trout lakes or in parks and conservation reserves we will be out of business.As a commercial bait harvester, I have harvested bait in natural trout lakes for 40 years and the lakes are just as good now or better and there has never been a problem. All these new parks and conservation areas are forced on us by our government with no consultation with us. As far as I am concerned harvesting for personal use should be banned specifically because people don't know what kind of bait they are harvesting. They should have to buy from a harvester dealer because MNR can come in our door at any time to check our systems and our bait and know what is coming in and out of our doors at any time. Personal use of stored live bait should not be permitted for any reason.

[Original Comment ID: 209723]