Walleye spearing declaration drops 14%
The six bands of Chippewa tribes in Wisconsin have declared intentions to spear 53,281 walleyes in 2018, 14% fewer than last year, according to the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission.
As it does each year, the commission advised the Department of Natural Resources of the tribes' plans in advance of the harvest season.
The announcement comes a year after the tribes declared 61,723 walleyes and harvested 39,021 in 2017. Both were record highs since the tribes began exercising their off-reservation treaty rights in the 1980s.
The tribal walleye harvest is expected to be lower this year, both because of the lower declaration and the late spring, which will likely reduce the spearing effort.
In addition to the walleye figures, the tribes' declared intentions to harvest 1,521 muskellunge in 2018.
The declarations are part of an annual process conducted by tribal representatives and state officials to manage fish populations.
The harvest declarations are spread across 476 lakes and reservoirs in the ceded territory, essentially the northern one-third of Wisconsin.
The 2018 declarations by band are: Bad River, 5,501 walleyes; Lac Court Oreilles, 5,429; Lac du Flambeau, 21,696; Mole Lake, 12,760; Red Cliff, 1,174, and St. Croix, 6,721.
The actual walleye harvest has ranged from 44% to 63% of the declaration over the last five years.
Over the last decade, the tribes took an average of 32,280 walleyes and 256 muskies per year, according to DNR reports.
The 1983 Voigt case affirmed the right of the Chippewa tribes to hunt, fish and gather in the ceded territory. Since the late 1980s, the tribes have exercised their right to take walleyes and other fish by spearing and, to a lesser extent, netting
The tribal take of walleyes by spearing, especially during the spawning period, has drawn criticism from sport anglers for decades and was once the cause of heated protests at boat landings.
Public demonstration against spearing has essentially ended, in part due to a rule implemented in 2015 that allows the DNR to set a three-walleye bag limit on all northern lakes, regardless of tribal declarations.
Before the rule change, the agency typically would reduce sport bag limits in response to tribal harvest declarations in an effort to keep the combined tribal and sport harvest within a "safe limit" on each water. The daily bag limits on many northern lakes were reduced to one or two walleyes; the standard limit is five fish.
The rule change enacted in 2015 by the Natural Resources Board allows the DNR to keep the sport bag limit at three walleyes on all waters in northern Wisconsin (with a few exceptions, such as the Minocqua chain, which has a zero bag limit during a restoration project).
As a result, the 2016 and 2017 spring spearing seasons passed with little controversy, even in an era of dwindling walleye populations.
The reasons for declines in walleye populations in northern lakes aren't completely understood and are the subject of many studies.
But most leading researchers, including former DNR employees Gretchen Hanson (now with the Minnesota DNR) and Andrew Rypel (now with the University of California-Davis), believe warming waters and altered food webs are chief culprits.
Walleye harvest could be a contributing factor in some waters.
The impact of tribal spearing is far less than sport harvest, however. From 2008-'12 in waters of the ceded territory, sport anglers harvested nearly 10 times as many walleyes as the tribes, according to the DNR.
Tribal spearers are allowed only two walleyes more than 20 inches in length per permit (typically 25 or 50 fish).
All fish speared must be measured and sexed. About 90% of walleyes taken by the tribes in spring are male, according to DNR reports.
Most northern Wisconsin lakes were ice covered as of this week, preventing spearing activity.
If this spring plays out like 2013 and 2014, which also had late ice-outs, the waters of the Ceded Territory will open up over a condensed period of time, restricting the ability of spear-fishermen to get to all the declared lakes before walleye spawning is completed.
A preliminary report of tribal spearing harvest is typically available in June.
Tribal fish harvest in rivers: In an order issued April 20, GLIFWC announced amendments to its fish harvest rules on Wisconsin rivers and stream segments.
The six bands of Chippewa tribes may spear on about 45 rivers and streams in the Ceded Territory, including the Black, Chippewa and Flambeau rivers.
The tribes are allowed to take no more than 120 walleyes, 30 smallmouth bass, eight muskellunge and two sturgeon per river or stream segment.
The amendments changed the time frame of the harvest, not the limits. The previous agreement called for the harvest to take place over no more than 48 hours, according to Charlie Rasmussen of GLIFWC. The new order places no time limit on the activity.
The change will help provide more flexibility and opportunity to tribal harvesters this year, Rasmussen said, when river systems are more likely to be free of ice than lakes.