Dave B
02-02-2001, 08:22 AM
Lake Erie walleyes may get a break
February 1, 2001
THERE MAY be some good news on the Lake Erie walleye front. Ontario, which owns half of the lake, has agreed to slash its commercial quota by 94 percent for at least the next three years in an effort to turn around a drastic walleye population decline.
Because the Canadian commercial catch accounts for more than 70 percent of all the walleyes taken in the lake, that should make it easier to get the four U.S. states with Erie frontage to agree to more modest cutbacks.
The fly in the ointment is that while anglers are convinced that Ontario's commercial catch is the cause of a 75 percent decrease in Lake Erie walleyes over the past 10 years, biologists aren't sure yet. The commercial fishing issue may prove a red herring that has masked some underlying ecological change responsible for the decline.
While the figures won't be released until March, the betting among fisheries experts is that the overall walleye quota for Lake Erie this season will be only about half of the roughly 8 million fish allowed last year.
The resentment that American anglers and fisheries managers have felt toward Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources spilled out into the open last weekend when the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Council held its annual meeting in Dundee.
Ontario has been insisting that Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York would have to agree to more cutbacks in their sport fish catches of walleye to make the Canadian commercial cutbacks politically palatable.
Michigan will reduce its walleye limit from 10 to six on Lake Erie and retain the 13-inch minimum size. Ontario will match that limit but reduce the daily catch to four during the March and April spawning season. Ohio will also go to six fish a day and four in March and April.
In 1999, the last year for which figures were available, Ontario anglers took about 1.3 percent of the walleyes caught in the lake. Ohio sports anglers took 21.4 percent, Michigan 2.9 percent, Pennsylvania 1.8 percent and New York .5 percent. Ontario commercials took the rest.
Pennsylvania and New York anglers catch so few walleyes because there is little natural reproduction in the lake's eastern basin. Michigan anglers catch relatively few because the state has a small share of the lake's shoreline, and Michigan anglers often fish Ohio and Ontario waters.
Sam Concilla, a member of the Pennsylvania Boat and Fish Commission, said, "Lake Erie walleye have declined from a peak of 100 million in the early 1990s to 25 million now." He added that most of the walleye production takes place in U.S. waters of the western basin, especially Ohio and Michigan.
"Pennsylvania has had a limit of six fish daily and a 15-inch size limit for years, even during the walleyes' greatest abundance. We're also proposing to close our season from mid-March to the first Saturday in May," he said. "Now others are coming to where we've been for a long time, and they're expecting us to move to an even lower limit ...more for appearances' sake than real benefit to the fishery."
Al Murray, Lake Erie fisheries manager for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, was able to conciliate Concilla somewhat with his announcement of the huge cutback in commercial walleye fishing on the lake's northern shore. Murray said candidly that the move would undoubtedly put many commercial fishermen out of business and onto welfare.
Murray also said Ontario has given up its program of having the commercial fishermen police themselves and reinstituted the Port Observer Program, with ministry workers making spot checks of fish landings to ensure that the commercial fishermen report honest totals. That followed several instances where Canadian commercial fishermen were caught by U.S. authorities with over-limit loads of walleyes and perch.
Dan Thomas of Chicago, executive director of the sport fishing council, said: "That was long overdue. It was like letting the fox watch the henhouse. Everyone knew that the commercial fishermen were going way over their quotas, but the government of Ontario didn't want to do anything about it."
Contact ERIC SHARP at 313-222-2511 oresharp@freepress.com.
February 1, 2001
THERE MAY be some good news on the Lake Erie walleye front. Ontario, which owns half of the lake, has agreed to slash its commercial quota by 94 percent for at least the next three years in an effort to turn around a drastic walleye population decline.
Because the Canadian commercial catch accounts for more than 70 percent of all the walleyes taken in the lake, that should make it easier to get the four U.S. states with Erie frontage to agree to more modest cutbacks.
The fly in the ointment is that while anglers are convinced that Ontario's commercial catch is the cause of a 75 percent decrease in Lake Erie walleyes over the past 10 years, biologists aren't sure yet. The commercial fishing issue may prove a red herring that has masked some underlying ecological change responsible for the decline.
While the figures won't be released until March, the betting among fisheries experts is that the overall walleye quota for Lake Erie this season will be only about half of the roughly 8 million fish allowed last year.
The resentment that American anglers and fisheries managers have felt toward Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources spilled out into the open last weekend when the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Council held its annual meeting in Dundee.
Ontario has been insisting that Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York would have to agree to more cutbacks in their sport fish catches of walleye to make the Canadian commercial cutbacks politically palatable.
Michigan will reduce its walleye limit from 10 to six on Lake Erie and retain the 13-inch minimum size. Ontario will match that limit but reduce the daily catch to four during the March and April spawning season. Ohio will also go to six fish a day and four in March and April.
In 1999, the last year for which figures were available, Ontario anglers took about 1.3 percent of the walleyes caught in the lake. Ohio sports anglers took 21.4 percent, Michigan 2.9 percent, Pennsylvania 1.8 percent and New York .5 percent. Ontario commercials took the rest.
Pennsylvania and New York anglers catch so few walleyes because there is little natural reproduction in the lake's eastern basin. Michigan anglers catch relatively few because the state has a small share of the lake's shoreline, and Michigan anglers often fish Ohio and Ontario waters.
Sam Concilla, a member of the Pennsylvania Boat and Fish Commission, said, "Lake Erie walleye have declined from a peak of 100 million in the early 1990s to 25 million now." He added that most of the walleye production takes place in U.S. waters of the western basin, especially Ohio and Michigan.
"Pennsylvania has had a limit of six fish daily and a 15-inch size limit for years, even during the walleyes' greatest abundance. We're also proposing to close our season from mid-March to the first Saturday in May," he said. "Now others are coming to where we've been for a long time, and they're expecting us to move to an even lower limit ...more for appearances' sake than real benefit to the fishery."
Al Murray, Lake Erie fisheries manager for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, was able to conciliate Concilla somewhat with his announcement of the huge cutback in commercial walleye fishing on the lake's northern shore. Murray said candidly that the move would undoubtedly put many commercial fishermen out of business and onto welfare.
Murray also said Ontario has given up its program of having the commercial fishermen police themselves and reinstituted the Port Observer Program, with ministry workers making spot checks of fish landings to ensure that the commercial fishermen report honest totals. That followed several instances where Canadian commercial fishermen were caught by U.S. authorities with over-limit loads of walleyes and perch.
Dan Thomas of Chicago, executive director of the sport fishing council, said: "That was long overdue. It was like letting the fox watch the henhouse. Everyone knew that the commercial fishermen were going way over their quotas, but the government of Ontario didn't want to do anything about it."
Contact ERIC SHARP at 313-222-2511 oresharp@freepress.com.