Genio in duluth
12-24-2003, 06:38 AM
Report on Red Lake Walleye reopening from Duluth News Tribune.
Looks like there is still work to do but the beginning maybe in sight.
Posted on Wed, Dec. 24, 2003
Walleye fishing in Red Lake set to resume by 2006
BY BRAD DOKKEN
GRAND FORKS HERALD
Walleye fishing will resume on Red Lake in 2006, thanks to a massive walleye recovery project that's ahead of schedule.
Five years after the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Red Lake Band of Chippewa closed the walleye harvest, fisheries managers announced Tuesday that the big lake's population has rebounded enough to reopen fishing.
Details on how walleye fishing will resume will be worked out over the next couple of years.
"The opening date is on the horizon," said Henry Drewes, regional fisheries supervisor for the Minnesota DNR in Bemidji.
"We had hoped we'd be at a point in eight to 10 years where we could have this fishery recovered," Drewes said. "We will have done it in seven, and everybody on the technical committee is excited about the rate this recovery has proceeded. We had excellent survival of our stocked fish, good growth rates and early maturity, and so it's probably proceeded a lot quicker than we anticipated."
Tuesday's announcement marks the next step in a recovery project that began in 1999 when the DNR, the Red Lake Band and the Bureau of Indian Affairs signed an agreement to restore walleye populations devastated by excessive sportfishing on Minnesota's side of the 260,000-acre lake and netting in tribal waters. The agreement called for a moratorium on walleye harvest and aggressive walleye stocking.
Using walleye eggs collected from the Pike River, a tributary of Lake Vermilion, state and tribal fisheries crews stocked about 40 million fry in 1999 and another 32 million each year in 2001 and 2003.
A technical committee made up of state and tribal biologists and other interests has met annually since 1999 to review Red Lake's walleye recovery. Meeting Dec. 17 in Bemidji, the group decided walleye numbers had rebounded enough to resume fishing, at least on a limited basis.
Drewes said walleyes stocked in 1999 will begin spawning next spring with 2001 fish contributing to the population by 2006. Walleyes from the 1999 stocking measure 16 to 20 inches, while 2001 fish are 10 to 13 inches long.
Remnant stock from 1996 and 1997 -- before the walleye agreement was signed -- are contributing to natural reproduction in the big lake.
Like the DNR's Drewes, Dave Conner, administrative officer for the band's Department of Natural Resources, is pleased with the rate of recovery.
"There certainly was concern and uncertainty, and I think what happened here is as good as one could hope for," Conner said. "We're starting to see the end on the horizon."
Conner said neither the Red Lake Tribal Council nor band members have had time to consider how walleye stocks will be used on the reservation's side of the lake. All 152,000 acres of Lower Red Lake and all but 48,000 acres of 108,000-acre Upper Red Lake lie within the Red Lake Indian Reservation.
While Red Lake tribal waters traditionally have been closed to those who are not band members, there has been some discussion about offering them limited sportfishing packages.
"Some people have been concerned about a return to commercial fishing as it was known, but other members have been equally concerned about opening up the reservation to sportfishing," Conner said. "I think the need is to hold more meetings and get the input of the membership on a larger scale."
The DNR's Drewes said it's too soon to say how a fishing season in state waters will be structured. The technical committee will first have to decide on a safe harvest level and how those fish will be allocated. He said the DNR will meet with resort owners in Waskish, Minn., at the east end of Upper Red Lake, to get their views.
"All I can say right now is we need to be conservative, and that it certainly will not be statewide limits," Drewes said. "Other than that, the door is open for lots of ideas."
The goal, he said, is to have a plan in place by a December 2005 deadline for Minnesota's 2006 fishing synopsis.
News of the walleye season drew mixed reviews from Waskish resort owners Tuesday.
"It just depends on what they do with the licenses and slot limits," said Don Hudec of Hudec's Resort north of Waskish. "If they're going to come back with a decent fishery, and people could keep some fish, it would be a plus."
But Hudec wonders whether slot sizes and reduced limits will entice anglers to fish Upper Red Lake when they can keep six walleyes on Lake of the Woods, less than 50 miles up the road.
Kelly Petrowske, whose family has owned a bait shop in Waskish since 1936, was more excited.
"I think it's great," Petrowske said. "Can you believe where we've gone in seven or eight years? It's just unbelievable. It's got to be one of the best stories as far as the outdoors that have happened in a long time."
Petrowske said he's encouraged by the technical committee's commitment to continue meeting after fishing resumes. He says dialogue between the state and the tribe holds the key to the Red Lake's future.
"I think everybody there learned a lesson," Petrowske said. "I can't see it getting out of control again. On both sides of the line, the sport fishermen and the gill netters, we can't look the other way. We don't want (a collapse) to happen again."
Looks like there is still work to do but the beginning maybe in sight.
Posted on Wed, Dec. 24, 2003
Walleye fishing in Red Lake set to resume by 2006
BY BRAD DOKKEN
GRAND FORKS HERALD
Walleye fishing will resume on Red Lake in 2006, thanks to a massive walleye recovery project that's ahead of schedule.
Five years after the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Red Lake Band of Chippewa closed the walleye harvest, fisheries managers announced Tuesday that the big lake's population has rebounded enough to reopen fishing.
Details on how walleye fishing will resume will be worked out over the next couple of years.
"The opening date is on the horizon," said Henry Drewes, regional fisheries supervisor for the Minnesota DNR in Bemidji.
"We had hoped we'd be at a point in eight to 10 years where we could have this fishery recovered," Drewes said. "We will have done it in seven, and everybody on the technical committee is excited about the rate this recovery has proceeded. We had excellent survival of our stocked fish, good growth rates and early maturity, and so it's probably proceeded a lot quicker than we anticipated."
Tuesday's announcement marks the next step in a recovery project that began in 1999 when the DNR, the Red Lake Band and the Bureau of Indian Affairs signed an agreement to restore walleye populations devastated by excessive sportfishing on Minnesota's side of the 260,000-acre lake and netting in tribal waters. The agreement called for a moratorium on walleye harvest and aggressive walleye stocking.
Using walleye eggs collected from the Pike River, a tributary of Lake Vermilion, state and tribal fisheries crews stocked about 40 million fry in 1999 and another 32 million each year in 2001 and 2003.
A technical committee made up of state and tribal biologists and other interests has met annually since 1999 to review Red Lake's walleye recovery. Meeting Dec. 17 in Bemidji, the group decided walleye numbers had rebounded enough to resume fishing, at least on a limited basis.
Drewes said walleyes stocked in 1999 will begin spawning next spring with 2001 fish contributing to the population by 2006. Walleyes from the 1999 stocking measure 16 to 20 inches, while 2001 fish are 10 to 13 inches long.
Remnant stock from 1996 and 1997 -- before the walleye agreement was signed -- are contributing to natural reproduction in the big lake.
Like the DNR's Drewes, Dave Conner, administrative officer for the band's Department of Natural Resources, is pleased with the rate of recovery.
"There certainly was concern and uncertainty, and I think what happened here is as good as one could hope for," Conner said. "We're starting to see the end on the horizon."
Conner said neither the Red Lake Tribal Council nor band members have had time to consider how walleye stocks will be used on the reservation's side of the lake. All 152,000 acres of Lower Red Lake and all but 48,000 acres of 108,000-acre Upper Red Lake lie within the Red Lake Indian Reservation.
While Red Lake tribal waters traditionally have been closed to those who are not band members, there has been some discussion about offering them limited sportfishing packages.
"Some people have been concerned about a return to commercial fishing as it was known, but other members have been equally concerned about opening up the reservation to sportfishing," Conner said. "I think the need is to hold more meetings and get the input of the membership on a larger scale."
The DNR's Drewes said it's too soon to say how a fishing season in state waters will be structured. The technical committee will first have to decide on a safe harvest level and how those fish will be allocated. He said the DNR will meet with resort owners in Waskish, Minn., at the east end of Upper Red Lake, to get their views.
"All I can say right now is we need to be conservative, and that it certainly will not be statewide limits," Drewes said. "Other than that, the door is open for lots of ideas."
The goal, he said, is to have a plan in place by a December 2005 deadline for Minnesota's 2006 fishing synopsis.
News of the walleye season drew mixed reviews from Waskish resort owners Tuesday.
"It just depends on what they do with the licenses and slot limits," said Don Hudec of Hudec's Resort north of Waskish. "If they're going to come back with a decent fishery, and people could keep some fish, it would be a plus."
But Hudec wonders whether slot sizes and reduced limits will entice anglers to fish Upper Red Lake when they can keep six walleyes on Lake of the Woods, less than 50 miles up the road.
Kelly Petrowske, whose family has owned a bait shop in Waskish since 1936, was more excited.
"I think it's great," Petrowske said. "Can you believe where we've gone in seven or eight years? It's just unbelievable. It's got to be one of the best stories as far as the outdoors that have happened in a long time."
Petrowske said he's encouraged by the technical committee's commitment to continue meeting after fishing resumes. He says dialogue between the state and the tribe holds the key to the Red Lake's future.
"I think everybody there learned a lesson," Petrowske said. "I can't see it getting out of control again. On both sides of the line, the sport fishermen and the gill netters, we can't look the other way. We don't want (a collapse) to happen again."