Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Office of the Revisor of Statutes

17.4986 IMPORTATION OF AQUATIC LIFE.
    Subdivision 1. Importation and stocking restrictions. A person may not import fish into or
stock fish in the state without first obtaining a transportation permit with a disease certification
when required or a bill of lading from the commissioner, unless the person is exempted.
    Subd. 2. Licensed facilities. (a) The commissioner shall issue transportation permits to
import:
(1) indigenous and naturalized species except trout, salmon, and catfish from any source
to a standard facility;
(2) trout, salmon, and catfish from a nonemergency enzootic disease area to a containment
facility if the fish are certified within the previous year to be free of certifiable diseases, except
that eggs with enteric redmouth, whirling disease, or furunculosis may be imported following
treatment approved by the commissioner, and fish with bacterial kidney disease may be imported
into areas where the disease has been previously introduced; and
(3) trout, salmon, and catfish from a facility in a nonemergency enzootic disease area with a
disease-free history of three years or more to a standard facility, except that eggs with enteric
redmouth, whirling disease, or furunculosis may be imported following treatment approved by
the commissioner, and fish with bacterial kidney disease may be imported into areas where
the disease has been previously introduced.
(b) If a source facility in a nonemergency enzootic disease area cannot demonstrate a history
free from disease, aquatic life may only be imported into a quarantine facility.
    Subd. 3. Emergency enzootic disease area. Except as otherwise provided and except
that eggs with enteric redmouth, whirling disease, or furunculosis may be imported following
treatment approved by the commissioner, and fish with bacterial kidney disease may be imported
into areas where the disease has been previously introduced, fish may be imported from
emergency enzootic disease areas only as fertilized eggs under the following conditions:
(1) to be imported into a standard facility, fertilized eggs must have a disease-free history
for at least five years;
(2) to be imported into a containment facility, fertilized eggs must have a disease-free history
for at least three years; or
(3) to be imported into a quarantine facility, fertilized eggs may have a disease-free history
of less than three years.
    Subd. 4. Disease-free history. Disease-free histories required under this section must include
the results of a fish health inspection. When disease-free histories of more than one year are
required for importing salmonids or catfish, the disease history must be of consecutive years that
include the year previous to, or the year of, the transportation request.
History: 1992 c 566 s 6; 1993 c 226 s 8,9; 1996 c 410 s 12

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes