These are some laws we have here in South Dakota.

It is illegal to import ANY live animal except for immediate slaughter without a current health certificate from a USDA licensed veterinarian. This includes worms, crickets, minnows, pets like dogs and cats and any other animal you can think of. Some ranchers have pastures that cross state lines. Every time a cow crosses from one side of the pasture to the other, it must have a current health certificate. Someone must have had some really bad hooch when they passed this. We are extremely aware of how many diseases, agricultural pests and other bad things are out there. This law is enforced selectively but has more than enough teeth to shut down anything at a moments notice. Since everyone would rather be safe than sorry, this law is applied much more broadly than most people would think. In the real world, it has very much slowed down cross border movement of animals bought and sold at wild and exotic animal auctions.

It is illegal to transplant or introduce live fish or fish eggs into public waters. After fishing, if you dump your minnows into the lake, you will likely be arrested. This law is actively enforced and supported by fishermen and anyone that makes their living from them. These Asian carp species are coming and people understand the potential they have to destroy our lakes and rivers. In watersheds they can�t swim into, they will be spread two ways. One is through people dumping their bait and the other is by people taking fish from one area and putting them into another to stock their lakes. The biggest worry is minnows that might be carp. If a person catches some catfish and puts them into their stock dam, they probably won�t have a problem.

It is illegal to release fish, reptiles, amphibians or crustaceans not native to South Dakota into public or private waters without written authorization from Game, Fish and Parks. Very actively enforced and not many permits are given. We don�t have a total ban on HSB like Michigan does but close. Most of you can put grass carp into your lakes without a second thought. It is very hard to get a permit to do so here. We have great fishing for the species we have and don�t want to take a chance of loosing it. The idea that it is my private lake and I can put anything I want in it doesn�t fly here.

Anyone importing fish for stocking must have a permit and must have a permit to transport fish. These permits are not automatic and many are turned down. Very actively enforced and again, supported by fishermen and people making a living from them..

Sanitizing our boats every time we go from one body of water to another is highly recommended but not a law. If we could figure out the logistics of doing it, I think this law would pass in a second. We understand clearly just how many things are out there that we don�t want here.

Does everyone agree with these laws? Of course not. And people ignore them all the time and don�t get caught just like every other law we have. But people do get caught and the results can be very costly. This is about as a conservative Republican state as it is possible get and yet, if anything, we would probably vote to strengthen these laws.

Norm Kopecky