Minocqua walleye scope statement emergency rule comes to NRB

A preliminary public hearing was held last month for the emergency rule regarding walleye harvest on the Minocqua chain. However, there were no attendees at that meeting, according to Meredith Penthorn of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Penthorn came to the Natural Resources Board (NRB) with a request for approval of the statement of scope for that rule. The NRB is a citizen board that works with the DNR in an advisory capacity.

For the last several years, in conjunction with an ongoing 10-year study of walleye recruitment in the Minocqua Chain, there has been a zero bag limit for hook and line anglers on those waters. Tribes, too, had agreed to not allow spearing on the Minocqua Chain while it was closed to hook and line anglers. This year, however, they did declare their treaty-given right to spear on the chain.

Penthorn said approval of this statement of scope would allow the department to bring back an emergency rule, should the tribes actually have a tribal harvest on Minocqua Chain. Simply declaring a harvest does not make it a foregone conclusion. Should a tribal harvest of walleye with high efficiency gear take place, she said, a future rule would allow for more equitable harvest by state licensed anglers. This would only be in the event that tribal harvest with high efficiency gear was exercised. 

The board approved the scope statement. This allowed the department to begin to draft an emergency rule that would allow limited walleye harvest by state anglers should tribes exercise their right to harvest. The statement of scope for proposed rules is now set to expire on November 1, 2025.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].