March 10, 2021 at 4:45 p.m.
Walleye Lakes of Concern Project looks to add additional protections to lakes with failing recruitment
New regulation could add a 'tool' to the toolbox
Walleye Lakes of Concern Project looks to add additional protections to lakes with failing recruitment
Kubisiak said all four of these lakes historically had strong natural walleye populations, but there is currently evidence of declining recruitment, and evidence of a declining adult population. This suggests there is an issue with fish living into adulthood, he said.
Since 2018, the Lac du Flambeau Tribe, the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) and the DNR have been working to draft a rehabilitation plan for failing walleye fisheries. The goals of the plan are to restore walleye natural reproduction and also to maintain some sort of fishing opportunities on these lakes throughout the process.
Kubisiak said walleye recruitment is normally quite variable. Using Clear Lake as an example, though, surveys showed much lower recruitment than in past years. In fact, he said, starting in approximately 2017, not "more than a handful" of young fish were reaching the fall of the year. He also showed adult walleye survey results for Clear Lake, which showed adult populations falling off in response to the failing recruitment.
Currently there are four "tools" in the walleye management toolbox, Kubisiak said. There is currently not a tool to address rehabilitation of a lake with declining walleye recruitment. The current regulations include a "trophy opportunity," with a 28-inch minimum length, a "memorable opportunity" with an 18-inch minimum, a "quality opportunity" with a 15-inch minimum and a 20-24 inch protected slot, and a "consumptive opportunity" with a one over 14 inch or 14-18 inch protected slot.
"A common theme we are hearing from anglers as we go through this plan is that we'd like to see a more restrictive option for walleye, especially in these lakes where they need to recover and we have these issues," he said.
The tool Kubisiak and the department would propose to use on these four lakes could become part of the overall walleye management toolbox in the future. This regulation would be include an 18 inch minimum, with a protected slot of 22-28 inches. It would also be a one fish bag limit. This, he said, would provide additional protection to larger females.
"It also sends, I think, a clearer message to anglers that these lakes have serious issues and we need to be restricting the harvest," he said.
The 18-inch minimum would give walleyes up to three opportunities to spawn, Kubisiak told the board, with the slot protecting some of the larger fish in these fisheries. The bag limit of one fish also allows further protection, he said. If this tool is deemed successful, it could be used as a tool for rehabilitation of other walleye fisheries in the future.
'Safe harvest'
Board chair Dr. Fred Prehn asked what tribal plans were as far as harvest of fish from these lakes during this study. Kubisiak said the Lac du Flambeau Tribe had also agreed to reduce their harvest, taking fewer fish from those lakes than they would otherwise be allowed under the current management system.
Kubisiak further explained how tribal harvest is calculated. The DNR generates a number, called the "safe harvest." This is the number of fish, based on best available data, that can be harvested from the lake to keep populations stable. From that number, the tribes declare their intent to harvest some portion of that number. Tribes, Kubisiak said, can declare a lower amount of harvest than would be allowable, as they have intended to do in the case of these four lakes. Tribal declarations, he said, are made in March.
"Unless we identify the reasons for the decline in the population, it's pretty hard to address how to bring that population back," board member Bill Bruins said.
"I agree, Bill," Kubisiak said. "It doesn't seem to be that we somehow got too few fish to produce enough eggs to produce the population. There's some other thing going on out there, and we've got ideas. We've got studies going on out there, but we haven't nailed down exactly what the issues is."
Kubisiak said, without having fish recruitment, the feeling was that these populations needed some extra protection for the adults in the lake with stocking to help maintain what is out there. He said the problem with walleye recruitment is not contained to these four lakes, but it a much larger issue in many lakes. The meeting will include a detailed presentation of the proposed walleye rehabilitation plan developed by the department in partnership with the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and GLIFWC.
Public hearing
A public hearing on the Walleye Lakes of Concern Project will be held virtually at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 24. This public hearing will look to discuss the proposed walleye rehabilitation on the four lakes Kubisiak spoke about in his presentation to the NRB last month.
Interested parties and stakeholders are invited to attend the meeting to ask questions and voice their opinions. A Zoom link is available on the DNR website and the public is strongly encouraged to register to join the Zoom meeting using the link provided on the DNR website dnr.wi.gov. Those wishing to attend by phone can do so by calling 1-929-205-6099 and using meeting ID 851 3948 5837.
According to a recent DNR press release, the new angling regulation for lakes will be discussed as part of this proposed plan. The public will have a chance to weigh in on the new regulation as part of the spring hearings to be held virtually at 7 p.m. on April 12.
Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].
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