February 3, 1997
TO: Lake Michigan Fisheries Community
FROM: Bill Horns, Great Lakes Specialist
SUBJECT: Lake Michigan Fisheries Issues
This is the fourth of a series of news memos dealing with issues of interest to the Lake Michigan fisheries community.
1996 was another good year for salmon and trout fishing.
Charter reports: Charter captains matched last year's overall record catch rates. The chinook harvest by charter boats was up 20% and the coho harvest was more than double that in 1995. Lake trout and steelhead harvests dropped, however. For a copy of the 1996 Lake Michigan Charter Report, contact Brad Eggold at the DNR office in Plymouth (920-892-8756).
Other news: The state brown trout record was broken twice in 1996 (new record: 35 pounds, 2 ounces) and the state steelhead record was broken (new record: 26 pounds, 10 ounces). Returns to our weirs were excellent last fall, and the prevalence of BKD in chinook salmon returning to Strawberry Creek, our primary chinook salmon spawning facility, continued to decline, with only one of 58 chinook salmon showing evidence of the disease. One piece of bad news is that survival of coho eggs collected last fall has been poor in both Michigan and Wisconsin, and we may not meet production goals for stocking in the fall of the 1997 and spring of 1998.
The Department has increased commercial whitefish quotas for Lake Michigan by 22%. This reflects the excellent condition of the Lake Michigan whitefish population. The annual total allowable commercial harvest of whitefish is now 1,770,000 pounds, with most of that to be taken in waters off the northern end of Door County.
1996 was the seventh consecutive year of poor reproduction by yellow perch in southern Lake Michigan.
Protecting the stock: To protect the remaining adult yellow perch, the Department closed the commercial fishery for yellow perch in Lake Michigan (excluding Green Bay) and reduced the daily sport bag limit from 25 to 5. Illinois and Indiana have followed suit; Indiana closed its commercial yellow perch fishery and reduced its sport bag limit to 15 and, effective April 1, Illinois will do the same. Illinois will also institute a slot size limit, restricting the sport harvest to yellow perch between eight and ten inches.
Research: The multi-state Yellow Perch Task Group has completed its research proposal to address the problem, and we are now working with other agencies and university scientists to obtain funding for research. We hope that this spring and summer scientists will be able to conduct a study of the viability of eggs spawned by yellow perch in Lake Michigan. This would answer the first key question: Does the problem lie in the quality of eggs that are produced, or in the environment that the young fish hatch out into?
The yellow perch population is also declining in Green Bay, and the Department has proposed a 33% reduction in commercial quotas for yellow perch in Green Bay and a closure of sport fishing for yellow perch in Green Bay from March 16 to May 19. This rule proposal will be considered by the Natural Resources Board at its March meeting. New rules must also pass review by the State Legislature, so these rules would not take effect in time to effect sport fishing in 1997, although commercial harvests in the 1997-98 quota year would be reduced.
New rules: The Department recently closed commercial chub fishing in Green Bay. At the same time we expanded the northern chub fishing zone and, for waters deeper than 60 fathoms only, opened it to chub fishing during winter (January 16 - February 28), starting in 1998. This means that winter chub fishing will be possible in both the northern and chub fishing zones, but only in waters deeper than 60 fathoms. Commercial chub fishers requested fishing during winter in shallower water, but that request was denied by the Department because of concerns for high incidental harvest rates of lake trout.
Cooperative agreements: In order to gain more information about how many lake trout are killed by commercial chub nets in waters deeper and shallower than 60 fathoms, the Department has entered into Cooperative Agreements with five commercial fishers. Under these agreements, commercial nets will be set during the winter season both outside the 60-fathom line and inside that line but deeper than 45 fathoms. Commercial fishers will provide the boats and nets, and reimburse the Department for all expenditures specifically for this study and for a portion of the time of permanent Department staff involved in the study.
In 1997, the Department will issue a new fish consumption advisory for Lake Michigan. This advisory has been developed following procedures recommended by the Great Lakes Fish Advisory Task Force, procedures that will be followed by Illinois and Indiana, but not Michigan, as those states develop new advisories. The advisory will utilize the latest data on contaminant levels in fish (1992-1996), so it will reflect the 80% decline in PCB levels that we have seen since 1980. The new advisory will inform the one-time or vacationing angler that, with very few exceptions, he or she can take home and enjoy their catch without worry.
The Department's Lake Michigan fisheries program has been reorganized as part of the larger Departmental reorganization. This may not greatly affect how you interact with the Department, and the faces you see in the field will remain pretty much the same, but if you want more information about this, let me know, or contact your local DNR office. At public open houses last summer a great deal of concern was raised about the future under Departmental reorganization of the Lake Michigan Unit now housed at the Great Lakes Research Facility on Greenfield Avenue in Milwaukee. In consideration of those concerns, the Lake Michigan Unit will be kept together in the same location.
As yellow perch populations have declined in Green Bay, some people are blaming cormorants, which have increased dramatically in abundance in that area. The Department is concerned about this issue. Cormorants are not considered an endangered or threatened species, but like most birds are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Under that Act the US Fish and Wildlife Service has considerable latitude in implementing control measures when biologically warranted, or when the birds are causing economic losses or threatening human health or safety. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has stated that in most natural situations cormorants have a relatively minor impact on commercial or sport fish populations, but remains open minded on the subject. At this time we simply do not know to what extent cormorants are harming the yellow perch population in Green Bay. Even if it can be shown that cormorants are significantly harming yellow perch there, it is not clear that any effective control measures are available to us.
Thank you for your interest in the Department's program on Lake Michigan. If you have questions or comments, contact me by phone (608.266.8782), FAX (608.267.7857), or e-mail (william.horns@wisconsin.gov).