No HSB are not on the restricted list. They were always in that gray area because they weren't forbidden but like tilapia, they weren't considered very often by people looking for a stocking program. Stocking packages had minnows, crayfish, BG, HBG LMB, and CC on them so that seems to be what the MI DNR went by.
I went round and round like you did with the DNR and ended up emailing and talking on the phone to Gary W. He had to go up his superiors chain, finally coming back to me after several months with the conclusion (which he did put in writing) that my pond is not under their jurisdiction and that since HSB are not on the restricted list they can't forbid it. He gloated a little in writing something on the order of 'good luck finding someone who will haul them in to MI' though. I think he realizes they have set the bar way high and the costs way high to do the necessary fish testing, paperwork, licenses etc.
My choice is to drive to OH, IN, IL etc or maybe someday one entrepreneurial fish truck driver will jump the hoops and start bringing tilapia, bass, HSB, etc into MI.
I'm not stuck on the HSB but I thought they would be an ideal apex predator for my small pond (put/take, non-reproducing, etc)
My goal was a HSB, YP, GSH pond with a few RES, LES with limited spawning as my bonus fish for fun.
What I see as a problem for you is that when you identify a potential customer in MI you almost need a drone fly over and high resolution footage of every inch of their pond to be sent to you ahead of time to be sure there is no culvert, stream, local puddle etc to help decide if a stocking permit is needed. That permit has to be in hand before you arrive so how in the world would one handle that?
