Lake trout limits lowered

[Lee Borgersen]

  Lake trout limits lowered in Apostle Islands area.

Hot off da press Today 12/10/14 at 11:21 p.m.





  ........the rest of the story
Wisconsin's Natural Resources Board on Wednesday approved an emergency rule lowering the lake trout limit in the Apostle Islands area because of declining lake trout populations, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources announced.

 


The rule change comes after a Dec. 1 stakeholder meeting in Ashland.

The 2014-15 emergency rule reduces the daily lake trout bag limit from three to two, one of which may be 20- 25 inches in length and one longer than 35 inches. For waters west of Bark Point, regulations for lake trout remain unchanged at three lake trout with a 15-inch minimum length and only one lake trout longer than 25 inches.

The recreational lake trout open season opened Dec. 1 and continues through Sept. 30, 2015. The commercial fishing season opened Nov. 28 and continues through Sept. 30, 2015.

Population assessments over the past six to eight years indicate the decline is tied to harvest levels, DNR biologists said. In addition to the board's adoption of the emergency rule, the DNR is seeking public input to identify Lake Superior fisheries priorities to help guide long-term management of the fishery.

"We recommended the emergency rule to ensure the long-term sustainability of the fishery as well as the welfare of the state-licensed commercial fishers, Chippewa commer-

cial fishers, recreational anglers and associated businesses that depend on lake trout," Terry Margenau, DNR Lake Superior fisheries supervisor, said in a statement. "Lake trout are a slow-growing species and harvest reductions are needed to allow some recovery."

The goal of the new regulations is to help reduce the overall harvest to 50,000 fish in the zone known as WI-2, surrounding the Apostle Islands. That target still is higher than the targets set in other lake trout management units.

In addition to the emergency rule, the DNR continues to gather comments regarding future management options and priorities for the fishery through the end of

December. People may provide feedback by mailing Terry L. Margenau, Lake Superior fisheries supervisor, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 589, 141 S. Third St., Bayfield, WI 54814; or emailing terry.margenau@wisconsin.gov.

For more information about the recent public meeting, go to the DNR website, dnr.wi.gov and search Lake Superior fisheries management meeting.

[Lee Borgersen]

Cut in Wisconsin lake trout limit stirs controversy

A decision to lower the lake trout limit in Lake Superior waters surrounding the Apostle Islands will have serious consequences for area businesses, says the owner of an Ashland bait and tackle shop.


On Wednesday, the Wisconsin Natural Resources board approved an emergency rule to reduce the lake trout limit in those waters from three to two. One of those fish may be from 20 to 25 inches long, and one may be over 35 inches. In effect, that means most anglers will be able to keep only one fish, because the likelihood of catching one longer than 35 inches is small, said Carolyn Swartz of Anglers All in Ashland.

“This could be an economic disaster,” Swartz said. “It certainly is going to hurt retail sales not only for ice-fishing but for trolling. I’ve got probably $30,000 worth of trolling baits sitting on the wall… I have a lot of very upset customers who have said ‘I won’t go out there bobbing for one fish. I won’t go trolling for one fish.’ ”

DNR officials said they needed to act quickly to protect lake trout stocks in the WI-2 zone surrounding the Apostle Islands. The Natural Resources Board passed an emergency rule lowering the lake trout limit in WI-2 but left the limit at three fish from Bark Point west.

Lake trout in Wisconsin waters are managed under a 10-year agreement that applies to sport anglers, tribal commercial fishermen and state-licensed commercial fishermen. The current agreement began in 2005 and ends Sept. 30, 2015, said Terry Margenau, Lake Superior fisheries manager for the DNR at Bayfield.

Under that original agreement, tribal fishermen were allotted half of the zone’s total allowable catch. State commercial fishermen and sport anglers shared the other half of the allowable catch, with sport anglers allowed two-thirds of that share. But because of adjustments made to allocations during the past 10 years, the tribes’ portion of the harvest now represents about three-fourths of the allowable catch. For the coming year, the two tribes’ allocation will be 36,300 fish, while the sport anglers are allotted 7,800 fish and state commercial fishermen are allotted 3,900 fish.

Lake trout numbers in WI-2 have declined significantly during the past 10 years from about 600,000 fish to just more than 200,000 fish, according to the DNR. Sport anglers take a small percentage of the overall harvest.

“A large proportion of the mortality is a result of commercial fishing,” Margenau said. “Quotas have been reduced for the commercial industry in the past, but this is the first time the sport side of the allotment has been reduced. We have to cut our sport harvest.”

In recent years, the sport fishing harvest of lake trout, including both summer and winter fishing, has been about 15,000 fish, Margenau said. That’s about twice this coming year’s sport fishing allocation.

“We need to cut it (the sport fishing harvest) by 50 percent,” Margenau said. “We’re anticipating that’s what this (limit reduction) will do.”

Swartz said reducing the sport fishing limit is unfair.

“The sport fishermen had nothing to do with it (the decline), and they’re the ones paying for it,” she said. “Personally, I would have been fine with two fish, but two conceivable fish. We want to see it (the lake trout population) healthy as much as anybody else, but let’s approach this from a sensible point of view.”

Margenau said talks with the Bad River and Red Cliff bands of Lake Superior Chippewa will begin soon to work out a fishing agreement before the current agreement expires in September 2015.

“I’m optimistic,” he said. “We’re all in this together. If there are no fish left, there are no fish for anybody. When the numbers of fish go down, the numbers of fish per user group go down.”

In addition to the emergency rule, the DNR continues to gather comments regarding future management options and priorities for the fishery through the end of December. Citizens may provide feedback by mailing Terry L. Margenau, Lake Superior fisheries supervisor, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 589, 141 S. Third St., Bayfield, WI 54814; or emailing terry.margenau@wisconsin.gov.


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