STRICT COAST GUARD LICENSE RULES THREATEN MINNESOTA OUTFITTERS, FISHING GUIDES

Feds Dusting Off 40-Year-Old Set of Strict Requirements

As a canoe outfitter at the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area
Wilderness, Blayne Hall has seen his business ravaged by windstorms
and challenged by wilderness lawsuits and regulations.

His latest nemesis: the long arm of the U.S. Coast
Guard.

Hundreds of Minnesota fishing guides, outfitters and tour operators
are facing expensive safety regulations enforced by the U.S. Coast
Guard that include, among other things, random drug testing.

The Coast Guard has notified Minnesota commercial outfitters and
guides that unless they have a federal "Six Pack" license, they no
longer can operate their small boats on federally navigable waters,
such as the Mississippi River, the St. Croix River or many lakes in
northern Minnesota.

It includes some waters in the BWCAW, where small operators such as
Hall use motorboats to shuttle canoeists and where local guides show
anglers where to catch fish.

The Six Pack license requires commercial boat operators to pass a
lengthy test on navigation and boat safety; have CPR certification;
pass a physical and health examination; prove they have three to 12
months of on-water boating experience; submit three personal
references; and pass a drug test. They also must be 18 years or older.

Boat operators and guides also are required to have a Transportation
Worker Identification Credential, or TWIC, which requires a background
check called a federal "security threat assessment" to ensure
operators aren't a threat to secure harbors.

To Hall, the requirements sound not just absurd, but like a serious
blow to his business.

"The Ely community is absolutely petrified by this," said Hall, owner
of Hall and Williams Outfitters on Moose Lake and president of the Ely
Area Tourism Board.

"I have high school kids who drive towboats up and down the lake all
summer. Are they going to make them pee in a bottle?"

The licenses and drug and physical testing cost about $600, but most
applicants have to take a special course costing $700 to $1,000 to
prepare for the Six Pack test.

Dick "Griz" Grzywinski, of St. Paul, a well-known fishing guide, was
ordered off local rivers last summer by the U.S. Coast Guard and told
to get a Six Pack license.

He signed up for the class this fall and studied a 350-page textbook
but failed the test in November.

"I can't pass it. My living is shot," Grzywinski said Tuesday. "The
test asks you questions like, 'How many green lights are there on a
mine sweeper?' I guess there are three."

A U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said the Six Pack license requirement,
which applies to commercial boat operators with six or fewer
passengers, has been on the books for 40 years but hasn't been widely
enforced until now.

The TWIC requirement became law last spring.

U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., is chairman of the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which oversees the Coast
Guard.

Oberstar spokesman John Schadl said the congressman's staff has met
with Coast Guard officials to devise a new, less stringent licensing
requirement for small-boat operators.

Schadl said the new license should be inexpensive and not require
guides and boat operators to travel a long distance to get it.

"I believe the current proposal is being reviewed in the D.C. (Coast
Guard) headquarters," Schadl said. "They (the Coast Guard) have the
ability to make these rules practical and workable.

"We're hoping something will be out soon. Certainly, we want this
resolved by spring for the fishing season," he said.

Coast Guard officials say the licensing requirement is to protect the
public.

"The Coast Guard's primary goal is to ensure the safety and security
of people using U.S. navigable waters," Lt. Dave French said in an
e-mail. He is a spokesman for the Coast Guard's 9th district, based in
Cleveland, which oversees northern Minnesota.

French acknowledged that the Coast Guard is looking at less onerous
licensing options for fishing guides and boat operators. "We intend to
work as quickly as possible on this," he said.

The rules are being enforced on the Mississippi, St. Croix and
Minnesota rivers, as well as the lakes connected to the Mississippi,
such as Winnibigoshish. Other waters that are considered federally
navigable include Lake of the Woods, Upper Red Lake, Lake Vermilion,
Gull Lake, the Whitefish Chain and Lake Mille Lacs.

Tom Neustrom, a fishing guide based in Grand Rapids, said he fears the
Coast Guard will crack down on fishing guides this spring, giving
little time for anyone to get a license.

"We'd be out of business," he said, adding that in 32 years, he has
never heard of an accident involving a fishing guide in northern Minnesota.

Hall held an emergency meeting of the Ely Outfitters Association on
Tuesday to talk about the requirements. About 25 business owners,
guides and outfitters showed up. Hall said he and others left the
meeting worried that the Coast Guard's solution still might force some
operators out of business.

He said outfitters have been in contact with Oberstar's
office.

"They make (the new proposal) sound like a lollipop, but the devil's
in the detail," Hall said. He added that outfitters and their craft
are either regulated or inspected by the U.S. Forest Service, Homeland
Security, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the county
sheriff's office.

"Now we're going to have the U.S. Coast Guard and guys with machine
guns on our lakes?" Hall said. "This just sends shudders through our
community."