Minneapolis now requires an annual permit to SCUBA dive

[2airishuman]

Apparently I missed this last year but the Minneapolis Park Board, which controls access to the many lakes within the city limits, now requires an annual permit for SCUBA divers, effective some time in 2018. The permit, for the time being, is free.

The stated rationale for the change is to provide a training opportunity for aquatic invasive species procedures.

Concern about the spread of various invasive plants, fish, and mollusks has been used to impose all kinds of regulations on water recreation in Minnesota and Wisconsin. State law gives wide latitude to local authorities to inspect anything going into or out of a lake, order decontamination and disassembly, etc.

This adds to a growing patchwork of county, city, and park board regulations and ordinances that limit shore access and that are particularly burdensome for non-mainstream uses.

 

[JackD342]

If there is actual benefit regarding transference of invasive species, that might very well be a good thing.
I can't help but wonder just how zebra mussels that have invaded the Great Lakes managed to migrate to the local Haigh Quarry years ago. Were the larvae just on the outside of someone's gear, or were they in a BCD with some Lake Michigan residue? Makes you wonder what you are carrying around on a daily basis.

 

[rhwestfall]

birds...

 

[Jared0425]

When any government mentions the word preservation and or protection it is nothing more than a euphemism for control...

 

[Jonn]

So now there really ARE scuba police!? Are they strict about DIR configuration, or will my derp diver setup pass muster?

 

[JamesBon92007]

Thanbks for

Apparently I missed this last year but the Minneapolis Park Board, which controls access to the many lakes within the city limits, now requires an annual permit for SCUBA divers, effective some time in 2018. The permit, for the time being, is free.

The stated rationale for the change is to provide a training opportunity for aquatic invasive species procedures.

Concern about the spread of various invasive plants, fish, and mollusks has been used to impose all kinds of regulations on water recreation in Minnesota and Wisconsin. State law gives wide latitude to local authorities to inspect anything going into or out of a lake, order decontamination and disassembly, etc.

This adds to a growing patchwork of county, city, and park board regulations and ordinances that limit shore access and that are particularly burdensome for non-mainstream uses.

Thanks for the heads up! I have not done it yet but sooner or later I'll end up in Minnesota when the lakes are not frozen

Is the permit issued/available from local dive shops?

Any thoughts on what I can do with my gear before I get there to insure no contamination?

 

[2airishuman]

Is the permit issued/available from local dive shops?

No you have to get them from the various jurisdictions.

The ones I am aware of now include:
- City of Apple Valley (Lac Lavon)
- Washington County (Quarry Park and Square Lake, possibly only required for instruction)
- City of St. Paul (Phalen, only required for instruction)
- City of Minneapolis (everyone, required for perhaps 5 marginally divable lakes)

Any thoughts on what I can do with my gear before I get there to insure no contamination?

There are no evidence-based, accepted protocols for dive gear.

The received wisdom is to remove visible weeds and allow the gear to dry for at least 7 days between water bodies. When diving multiple bodies of water in one day, it is recommended to dive those known to harbor invasive species last.

It is nearly impossible to remove all the spider-webby strands of algae from a BC or even a nylon strap. A brush helps. Hard to know that you've got it all. Protocols for other equipment, like water hotter than 185 degrees for 10 minutes, or bleach, would destroy dive gear after a handful of treatments.

But, as alluded to upthread, over the course of a couple of decades, all the susceptible lakes will have these organisms, because birds and beavers and turtles and muskrats, do not check in at the DNR decontamination station. (Not all lakes are susceptible to all invasive species, for example, many lakes cannot support a breeding population of zebra mussels because the pH is too low)

 

[JamesBon92007]

I usually stay in Marine on St. Croix--is it only the jurisdictions that you mentioned that require the permits?

 

[2airishuman]

Those are the ones I'm aware of. There may be others. There is no centralized list.

 

[Clayton122]

When any government mentions the word preservation and or protection it is nothing more than a euphemism for control...

Isnt that Anyone though? And not just government? If you want to preserve an eco system of any kind, you have to control what goes in and out to some extent. Doesnt matter if this is a lake in your state, or a fishtank in your living room.

Control doesnt have to indicate a nefarious purpose.