Posted on 06/18/2015 11:33:01 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Across Northwest Wisconsin there has been much discussion about the decline of the walleye population.
In response one of Governor Scott Walker’s initiatives has been stocking lakes with larger “extended walleye” versus small fry in the hopes that the larger fish have better chance of surviving and then reproducing.
However, Governor Walker in his proposed biennium budget has also proposed cutting some key Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) scientists in the Bureau of Science Services, scientist behind the extended walleye initiative and who also created the modeling for the three-bag limit of walleyes using length as the critical factor to tweak populations.
“It’s a really big issue,” Joe Hennessy, DNR Treaty Fisheries Coordinator said of the declining walleye population. “The decline we’ve seen is not across the board. There are lakes where walleyes are trucking along just fine and there are plenty of places where we’ve had problems.”
“Bit of mystery” is how Hennessy described walleye decline in some lakes. “Likely culprits,” like harvesting rates and predation, have not proven to be that big of a factor.
One unanswered question is what happens to walleye eggs and then small fish (the fry), from spring to the beginning of September. He said something was “going wrong,” but added it’s very difficult to study fish at that stage due to their small size.
Hennessy also noted walleye populations in rivers are also in decline.
Another possible factor impacting walleyes is increasing water clarity – Northern waters becoming clearer because of better land management (including better septic tanks). Walleyes have sensitivity to light and if that light is penetrating deeper in the water it could upsetting their life cycle.
Climate change has also been brought up as another factor possibly impacting walleyes.
Concerning the extended walleye initiative, Hennessy said, those larger walleyes are intended to stock lakes in decline with the hope that bigger fish can survive and even establish natural reproduction.
“Climate change has also been brought up as another factor possibly impacting walleyes. “
Of course. Is there ANYTHING that can’t be blamed on globull warming?
I am betting Northern Pike have a larger impact than climate change. I have met some of the DNR scientists here in Michigan, not impressed.
outdoors ping
“Another possible factor impacting walleyes is increasing water clarity – Northern waters becoming clearer because of better land management (including better septic tanks). Walleyes have sensitivity to light and if that light is penetrating deeper in the water it could upsetting their life cycle.”
I remember a while back there was some disease that was affecting Walleye in the Midwest. CT get’s there walleye fingerlings from the Midwest for stocking and they stopped one year because of it.
They are experiencing that here on the Yakima River in Eastern Washington. The Yakima is a slow moving river and most always dingy brown from sediment runoff from irrigation return water. Modern farming practices have removed the heavy sediment load and now the river is clear. A few years ago the Dept. of Ecology proposed to eliminate phosphorous in the in waste water returns to the river because the river is now full of algae and other aquatic plant life because with the new clarity and sun light is causing them to bloom.
I had a charter captain in Ashtabula, OH tell me they were worried about the water becoming too clear for walleye due to the zebra mussel. Don’t know if that is true or not.
Oh, those unintended consequences, ain’t they a bitch.
Do they have Zebra Mussels up there, like we do in Lake Erie?
Interesting.
What green activists see as proper water is good for human consumption and not what the fish want.
Sort of like a parent covering up a sleeping child, because the parent is cold.
Well, is there a lot more cover and brush in the bodies where the walleye are doing well compared to the others?
I don’t know.
I haven’t fished or lived in Wisconsin since I was a teenager - back when a pike went after the fish that I’d hooked.
Grrrrr....
Every time. In the Columbia they introduced the northern pike to kill off the lamprey (Lamp Ray) eel which fed on salmon and steelhead eggs and fry. As fate would have it after they decimated the lamprey the new predator turned to...you guessed it, salmon and steelhead eggs and fry. So now they have a $3/fish bounty on the northern pike.
I don’t know. There is a discussion board at the site.
Nothing to do with climate.
It is due to the over-fishing by Indian tribes and there spitting in the face of sportsmen by throwing dead walleyes up on the shore to waste.
HomeNewsStory
Wisconsin lawmaker rips tribes’ spearfishing goals
By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press
Posted: 03/19/2014 10:31:21 AM CDT | Updated: about a year ago
MADISON, Wis.—Wisconsin’s Chippewa bands want to spear too many walleyes again this spring and risk re-igniting tensions if state officials adopt tight bag limits for non-tribal anglers, the state Assembly’s tourism chairman warned Thursday.
The tribes have declared they want to harvest a record 63,488 walleye across northern Wisconsin this spring. The declaration comes after the state Department of Natural Resources imposed strict bag limits to compensate for last year’s tribal goals and protect the walleye fishery. This year’s declaration could push the agency to adopt even tighter restrictions on non-tribal fishermen.
Rep. Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah, chairman of the Assembly’s tourism committee, was so incensed last year that he threatened to rescind a state grant for one Chippewa tribe. He said Thursday that the tribes are being too aggressive again this year, and he’s already hearing complaints from constituents.
“Unfortunately the tribes don’t do themselves any (public relations) favors when they do this,” Kaufert said. “(The record declaration) catches people’s attention and they’re not pleased about it ... when you severely limit the ability of these folks to have a decent catch, it may impact the tourism.”
http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_25375405/wisconsin-chippewa-want-spear-63k-walleye
There used to be 2 varieties of walleye in the Great Lakes, yellow and blue. The blue were fished to near extinction by the trawling nets of the native fishermen. They almost took out the yellows too. This had nothing to do with sports fishing. It was commercial fishing with massive nets.
Water clarity has had nothing to do with walleye population declines, it was uncontrolled commercial fishing.
I guess that’s too un-PC, so a “mystery” it must be.
Too-clean water wins over don’t dis the native American community.
Thank you for the information.
” back when a pike went after the fish that I’d hooked.”
Had that happen to me on Rice Lake in Canada! Ended up with a nice walleye head!
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