Lake erie nets

Frank,
First of all I am an American. Secondly, you are correct in the statement that the netting issue in anything but black and white. True, the GLC sets quotas and the commercial and sport fishing are supposed to abide by them. Unfortunately, year after year the Canadian netters overfish their quotas especially with the yellow perch while the U.S. netters with their trap nets (you can throw back undersize or undesireable fish from them as opposed to gill nets that kill everything that gets into them) and the sport fishermen keep getting cut back. Our guys only get to net perch and what most people consider "trash fish" and have to return all the walleyes. One of the biggest problems is the fact that the Canadian govt. won't enforce the quota regs. because of who actually owns the fishing fleets. Most of them are owned by the major distillers (holding major political clout) in Canada and are operated by Portegese fishermen. I have heard talk about the 10 fish walleye limit being set because the Canadian fishing fleet basically said "there are X number of walleyes in the lake and if you guys cant catch your share then give them to us." Unfortunately there is no simple solution to the problem.

I posted a reply earlier before I read thru all 29 responses and i would like to add a comment or 2. The net idea would certainly divide the fish stocks but may do more harm than good. The populations of walleyes in Lake Erie need to eat and spawn. 90% of the reproduction takes place on the reefs in the western basin and from there the fish disperse to wherever the bait and comfortable water is. If most of the smelt, shad, shiners, and alewives are crusing Canadian waters that's where the walleyes go. When that happens, they do their thing following the bait around until it's time to turn back to the south and west for the next spawn. If the net idea flys, what size is the mesh? big enough for the bait to pass thru? They need to find food and spawing sites to in order to keep the walleyes and perch fed. If the mesh allows the smelt to pass thru to Peelee to spawn the walleyes are left hungry on the south side of it. If there are several million walleyes on the north side when this net is installed then they will continue to look for a hole in it to get to where instinct tells them to go to spawn until they give up or die. Also where will the net start and end? Will it run down the middle of the Detroit river? Where are the shipping gates going to be and who will control them? The point I am trying to make is we can't possibly think the lake can be divided into 2 or more parts and not upset the natural balance or the commerce that uses it to move frieght.
As I mentioned before, the majority of the fishing fleet is owned privately by Canadian distilleries, NOT the Canadian government Although Canada does have some socialist tendencies...the commercial fishing industry is not state run. The U.S. "Buying out" the Canadian govt. to ban or curtail commercial fishing would be very simular to the Chinese buying out influence and technology from the good ol boys in the White House.

I was in Canada last August and we caught more walleyes than we knew what to do with. And the folks..we never encountered anyone that said a single bad word.

>The U.S. "Buying out" the Canadian govt. to ban or curtail commercial fishing would be very simular to the Chinese buying out influence and technology from the good ol boys in the White House. <

Which makes it all the more plausible.

[kingfish]

just stop the sale of walleye in the usa .if there is no market theRE would not be so many netters we can at least buy out all erie commercial netting permits a extra 1.00 on our fishing permits would be more than enough .trap nets and seins do a lot of damage to the fish that are turned back WAKE UP DIV. OF WILDLIFE AND QUIT MAKING EXCUSES WHY WE ARE NOT CATCHING FISH THERE GONE......

[eyeman]

we may have to change this board to sheephead central soon.

First off let's get some facts. Take out your maps and have a look at the population base on the US side of Lake Erie. There is probably 6 million US citizens within a 25 mile proximity to the lake. Second, grab a map of Canada. Look along the lake and see how many Canadian citizens live within 25 miles of the lake. We might have at the most 400,000 . Now simple math tells me ( and fisheries managers) that the US side has an extremely unbalanced number of sport fisherman on the US side of the lake compared to Canadian sportsfishers. Yes we have commercial fishing on our side of the lake, but do you think that total Canadian allotment of walleye is higher than in the US??? ( according to the posts here, you guys can keep 10 walleye while Canadian sportsfishers can only keep 6).

I have seen posts in this thread stating that it would be great to see walleye gone from grocery store shelves. What about the people who don't own boats? You would exclude many people from enjoying a great meal of healthy fish if this was accomplished.

I will not get into the mud slinging regarding our abilities to have a decent paying job here..plenty of us do so don't worry. The American way is not the only way....

I think that sportfishers on both sides of the lake have to be concerned with the decline of walleye populations in the lake. Who has the answers? We may know some of the problems but solutions is another. The introduction of foreign species by FOREIGN ships has and will dramatically change the lake. Probably not for the better. But eliminating the nets on our side will not solve the problem. Why not ban sportsfishing? I mean who are we to say that the fish belong to sportsfishers exclusively? Can we share the resource? Yes we can but only when we see things for what they really are. We can stay friends with our neighbours to the south as we historically have in the past and share the resource we have both benefited from.

Lets hope that the walleye fishing returns to the numbers, and quality that we had in the late eighties.

Good fishing to all of you..
Regards
Ken

[kenk]

it is my understanding that the u.s. side is allocated 40% of the walleye harvest and our northern brothers 60%. the reverse is true for yellow perch. the 40% assigned to the american side is further divided by all states bordering on the lake. each state may then determine how it's share is harvested. the conclusion of the states was that sportfishing, and the resulting side economic benefits far outweighs the income created by selling walleye fillets at the grocers at $5.00-$6.00 per pound (u.s.). perhaps for those without boats, or the desire to sportfish, farm raised could be a solution. i have more than once had perch dinners at restuarants where the fish was farmed raised. could walleye be the same? perhaps the same persons employed by the commercial boats could be employed by the "fish farms" and sportfish in their free time the same as the rest of us!
the state of ohio raised the limit from 6 fish to 10 fish as a result of the international agreement on the harvest of walleye. one clause in the agreement specified that should one party not meet their alloted quota for a specified period of time the unharvested portion would be allocated to the other party the next year and all years thereafter.
i fully agree that the solution will require co-operation from all sides, and insults are not needed. our canadian brothers today are the same people that hid our american brothers from the iranians after the embassy takeover. we have stood side by side for generations and will continue to do so in the future. cherish the fact that we are the same but different.
forgive my american brothers big mouths, their mothers did not raise them right. the solutions will require cool heads and smart minds, not smart mouths! just because our current president has low moral character does not mean we must demonstate the same. PEACE.

The point I was making was the only way to solve the problem is to have the Canadian elected officials grow enough spine to actually enforce the quota limits set by the joint commision and ban the use of gill nets. Fisheries are a renewable resource and can and should be harvested at a MANAGABLE rate but not at the expense of sport fishing. Buying influence in another country with our tax dollars is wrong.

I don't understand why we spend some much time analizing and talking about subjects relating to something we feel will effect us. I guess it just hasn't affected us enough yet to start taking action. The lake is a resource and we are not the only people in the universe. We need to insure that the commercial fisherman are playing by the rules and use the laws set in place to regulate there practices. Jjones