January, 2003
TO: People interested in Great Lakes fisheries
FROM: Bill Horns, Great Lakes Fisheries Specialist
This is an update on some of the issues facing us on the Great Lakes. If you have questions or comments about the topics discussed here or any other issues related to Great Lakes fisheries, contact me by phone (608.266.8782), FAX (608.266.2244), or e-mail (william.horns@wisconsin.gov). We also maintain a Lake Michigan web page: http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/lakemich/.
Commercial fishing rules. Public hearings will be held in January on two proposed commercial fishing rules. Whitefish trap nets. One rule would open most of Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan south of Kewaunee to commercial trap netting during summer. The area between Manitowoc and Two Rivers would remain closed. Currently the area south of Kewaunee is closed to trap nets from June 28 to Labor Day. The rule would also reduce from 12 to 6 the number of nets that could be set during the summer period by each commercial fishing license holder. It would also establish new net marking requirements. Smelt trawling in Green Bay. The second proposed rule would shorten the summer trawling season and reduce the total annual allowable commercial harvest of smelt from Green Bay. Currently the allowable annual harvest from Green Bay is 351,933 pounds and the season runs from June 15 to September 30. Under the proposed rule the annual allowable harvest would be reduced to 100,000 pounds and the season would run from July 1 to September 1. The hearings on the two rules will be held concurrently starting at 7 p.m. on each of the following dates:
January 16, 2003 – Room 310 Green Bay City Hall, 100 N. Jefferson St. Green Bay
January 21, 2003 – Multipurpose Room, Lakeshore Technical College, 1290 North Ave. Cleveland
January 22, 2003 – "C" Auditorium, Milwaukee MATC, 1036 North 8th Street, Milwaukee.
Written comments may be sent to me. Following the hearings, we will review all written and oral comments do one of three things with each rule: 1) ask the Natural Resources Board to adopt it as written, 2) ask the NRB to adopt it in a modified form, or 3) drop the rule proposal.
Lake Michigan Fisheries Forum. The Forum was established two years ago to advise the Department on Lake Michigan fisheries issues. It is a diverse, broadly-based group made up of eight sport fishers, four commercial fishers, a sporting goods store owner, an environmentalist, and representatives of the Fish and Wildlife Service, the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and Sea Grant. You are welcome to attend meetings. The next meeting is scheduled for the evening of February 10 at Lakeshore Technical College in Cleveland, Wisconsin.
Lake Superior lake trout are doing well. The harvest of lake trout in Wisconsin waters of Lake Superior is guided by the Lake Superior State-Tribal Agreement among the Department and the Red Cliff and Bad River Bands of Lake Superior Chippewa. The Agreement is periodically amended to reflect changes in lake trout abundance. Recently state and tribal biologists determined that the continued recovery of lake trout in Lake Superior warranted an increase in harvest, including a 24% increase for each state-licensed commercial fisher.
Yellow perch hopes have dimmed, for now. Early indications were encouraging, but hopes have dimmed for exceptional reproduction in 2002 by yellow perch in either Green Bay or Lake Michigan. We are hoping to be surprised, but our best guess now is the 2002 year class will be comparable to that of 1998, at best, and far below the best years of the 1980’s. In both Green Bay and Lake Michigan, sport catches consist predominantly of four-year-old fish, hatched in 1998.
Exotic species - just when you thought it was safe to go into the water . . . . The importation of new species in the ballast of ocean-going vessels continues to be the main problem, but we are also worried about Asian carp moving up from the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Federal legislation. If you are interested in federal legislation in this area, consult the web site of the Northeast Midwest Institute: http://www.nemw.org/biopollute.htm#laws. There you will find, among other things, information about the status of NAISA, the National Aquatic Invasive Species Act. That bill is the vehicle for the latest national efforts to control ballast dumping, and many other aspects of the problem. EPA and the Clean Water Act. In 1999 the EPA was petitioned to use authority provided by the Clean Water Act to regulate the discharge of ballast from ships. The agency declined to act as requested, but the issue is still being kicked around in federal courts. Recently, Attorneys General from Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York petitioned a federal appellate court to compel the EPA use its authority under the Clean Water Act to address the problem of ballast dumping. Electric dispersal barriers. You may have read about four species of Asian carp (silver, bighead, black, and grass) in the Mississippi River drainage, and concerns that they may enter Lake Michigan by way of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. That was the route for zebra mussels and gobies moving the other way, from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi drainage. An electric barrier is installed and running, and recently a backup generator was installed, but concerns remain about the ability of a single barrier to stop the migration of Asian carp into Lake Michigan. Now, the State of Illinois has announced a commitment of $2 million in matching funds, which will allow the Corps of Engineers to construct a second dispersal barrier at a total cost of $7 million.
Chinook salmon – should we stock more or less? 2002 was the best year since the mid 1980s for chinook salmon fishing in Lake Michigan. The harvest was fueled mainly by fish stocked in 1999. That’s interesting, because that was the year that the four states agreed to reduce stocking by 27% lakewide, and we have maintained the reduced stocking levels since then. We don’t take the great fishing for granted. No fishery in the world is predictable, and this one is no exception. Department biologists will continue to work with their counterparts in other states to monitor trends in forage abundance and chinook salmon condition, and to understand forage requirements of the lakewide stocking program. Last year we cooperated with biologists in the other states and with biologists at the USGS’ Great Lake Science Center in Ann Arbor to implement a hydroacoustic-based estimate of forage abundance to complement the trawl-based survey conducted annually by the Great Lakes Science Center. Meanwhile, scientists at Michigan State University are tuning up mathematical models to try and quantify the risks of overstocking salmon and trout. We also watch trends in size and condition of salmon that are recovered at our spawning weirs and by anglers.
Law enforcement concerns. Wardens continue to have a problem with illegal fishing activity during the fall salmon runs. The primary violation is "failure to return foul hooked fish" taken at night. In the fall of 2002, for example, Northeast Region wardens arrested or cited 145 individuals for violations including snagging, netting, and pitchforking salmon. These kinds of violations are also common in the Southeast Region, and impose a large workload on wardens. Enforcement of snagging laws is simplified after October 1 when nighttime fishing of all kinds is prohibited in the tributaries. In the past, wardens have asked that the nighttime closure be moved up to September 15.