Officials with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans are rethinking the Fisheries Act, which can label as a fish habitat a rain puddle in a furrow.

They’ve been told to "tone down" the regulations, said eastern Ontario councillor for South Stormont Tammy Hart. Area MP Guy Lauzon is meeting with DFO officials and word from DFO is that changes will be made, she said.

The problem is that farmers have been in the habit for years of draining their own ditches and are now being threatened with fines for doing so. Adriaan Rutters, of Chesterville, is facing thousands of dollars in fines for cleaning out ditches around his property. The neighbours are delighted with the improvements but he was told he needed a permit from the local conservation authority. It was news to him.

In fact, a well-respected eastern Ontario licenced drainage contractor, who asked to remain anonymous, says that "to the best of my knowledge none of the 12 licenced drainage contractors east of Toronto" have ever taken out permits from a Conservation Authority to clean out ditches.

The law might be written on the books but were never enforced and, therefore, never considered legitimate, the drainage contractor said.

OMAFRA’s drainage coordinator has also jumped into the fray. In a letter to the South Nation Conservation Authority, Sid VanderVeen wrote that "for a (conservation authority) to now require a permit or approval to repair a drain certainly seems superfluous."

Following an article on Adriaan Rutters’ drainage woes that appeared in Farmer Forum last month, another eastern Ontario farmer contacted Farmers Forum to say he’s facing the same issue but declined to discuss the matter until his lawyer resolves it.

Meantime, Rutters is still waiting for the results of an investigation into the charges against him by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.