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Fond du Lac will net on Lake Vermilion Up to 2,500 pounds of walleye will be taken this spring under 1854 Treaty 
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LAKE VERMILION— The Fond du Lac Band announced Wednesday that it will exercise its rights under the 1854 Treaty, by netting walleye on Lake Vermilion this spring. The announcement had been the subject of rumor for weeks, but the band didn’t make its official declaration to the Department of Natural Resources until Wednesday morning.
The band plans to net up to 2,500 pounds of walleye, from the eastern basin of Lake Vermilion. It also announced plans for a much smaller take from several other northeastern Minnesota lakes, mostly in Cook County.
While such announcements have prompted controversy in some areas, the local reaction among Lake Vermilion stakeholders was relatively muted this week. While area fishing guides and resort owners aren’t happy about the Fond du Lac plan, most recognized that there’s little that can be done about it. “It’s their right,” said Tim Lescarbeau, current president of the Lake Vermilion Guides League. “It went to the highest court in the land. I’ve talked to a few people who want to make a huge stink about it, but I don’t think that’s the way to go.”
Details of Fond du Lac’s plan weren’t yet finalized as of this week, but Fond du Lac fisheries biologist Brian Borkholder said the spring harvest would begin shortly after ice-out and wrap up by May 7, so as not to conflict with the Governor’s Fishing Opener, which is being held on Lake Vermilion this year.
Resort owners and guides say they have developed a good working relationship with the Bois Forte Band, and that the band’s annual reservation-based netting has prompted barely a ripple over the years with most anglers. That could well be because Lake Vermilion continues to enjoy one of the highest walleye populations in the state, according to the DNR’s annual test netting. Vermilion’s 2013 management report, issued in April 2014, showed a whopping 22.4 walleye per test net on the lake’s eastern half, with a lakewide average of 18.2 fish per net. Those numbers put Vermilion among the very top walleye lakes in Minnesota. A report on the lake’s 2014 survey results should be available by early April.
Given the size and health of the Vermilion fishery, it’s unclear that a 2,500-pound harvest would have much impact. While the actual walleye harvest on Lake Vermilion isn’t known for certain, DNR large lake specialist Duane Williams said the safe target for the summer creel survey is about 65,000 pounds. “We know there’s additional harvest that we miss,” said Williams, “like fall fishing, dock fishing and the Bois Forte netting.”
Williams said the ultimate impact of the treaty netting will depend on what Fond du Lac decides to do in the future. Under the 1854 treaty, tribal signatories maintain rights to hunt and fish in the ceded territory in perpetuity, but the Bois Forte and Grand Portage bands have, for now, opted not to exercise those rights, off-reservation, in exchange for an annual payment. Those bands still maintain the right to hunt and fish within reservation boundaries. Fond du Lac is the only signatory of the 1854 Treaty that currently exercises its treaty rights.
Unlike reservation-based netting, as is done by the Bois Forte in the spring, Fond du Lac band members would not be restricted to netting or spearing in or adjacent to tribally-owned lands— meaning they could operate anywhere on Lake Vermilion.
While most lake boosters are remaining circumspect about the prospect of seeing Fond du Lac nets added to the management concerns on Vermilion, the proposal is prompting calls for greater transparency about the volume of fish being taken by all lake users.
Resort owners and guides agree they’d like to see more information going forward about all the tribal netting and spearing that takes place on the lake each spring.
“If there was an accurate way of measuring the amount of fish that are taken, that would help the DNR better manage the lake,” said Ed Tausk, owner of Vermilion Dam Lodge. Phil Bakken, past president of the guides league, agreed. “Hopefully this will be a catalyst that moves us in that direction. I think the DNR would have to be the driver in trying to get more information,” he said.
“It would be useful information to have,” concurred Williams. “Right now, we don’t have any idea of the harvest. They don’t keep track of it.”
That won’t be the case when Fond du Lac band members come to Vermilion. Borkholder said Fond du Lac will be closely overseeing the harvesting done on Lake Vermilion this spring. He said fisheries officials will have creel survey teams and conservation officers on hand the entire time, and that they will closely monitor and track the harvest. “We physically weigh and measure every fish that’s taken,” said Borkholder. They will also be removing otoliths from a certain percentage of the fish to determine the age classification of the fish they harvest. Williams agreed that the fish taken under the 1854 Treaty are typically well documented.
While the band has discussed a 2,500-pound maximum harvest, Borkholder said the actual harvest could be less, and is dependent primarily on the number of band members who turn out for the event. “Last year, on Mille Lacs, we were there for four nights, and only 11 people showed up the entire time.”
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Topic: Fond du Lac to net Vermilion (Read 4397 times)
