Lake Winnebago alliance forms to preserve fishery
Goal is to prevent lampreys in system
OSHKOSH – Among inland fisheries in the United States, the Lake Winnebago system in central Wisconsin is arguably the crown jewel.
With an internationally famous population of lake sturgeon as well as robust numbers of walleye and yellow perch and dozens of other natives species, lakes Winnebago, Poygan, Winneconne and Butte des Morts, as well as the Fox and Wolf rivers, provide a range of high quality and rare fishing opportunities, most available 365 days a year.
A 2006 UW-Green Bay study found the Winnebago system fishery had a total annual economic impact of $234 million and provided 4,300 jobs to the region.
But if you ask many local residents,
the fishery is priceless. For them, it represents a way of life.
This is the region that gave rise to conservation groups such as Sturgeon For Tomorrow, whose members form patrols to protect spawning fish from poaching, and Walleyes For Tomorrow, whose members operate walleye wagons to raise and stock fry and perform habitat improvement projects.
So you can imagine how area citizens would react if they perceived a threat to the fishery.
About 50 people gathered last week in Oshkosh with concerns over one, and possibly two, potential changes to a lock system that connects Winnebago to Green Bay.
At issue: keeping aquatic invasive species (AIS), especially sea lampreys, out of the Winnebago system.
There are 17 locks over 39 miles of the Fox River between Lake Winnebago and Green Bay.
The Fox River Navigational System Authority (Fox Locks) maintains the lock system. At present, two locks, Menasha (closest to Lake Winnebago) and Rapide Croche (third-closest to Green Bay) are closed to prevent AIS from entering Winnebago.
The Menasha lock was closed in 2015 due to the discovery of the round goby, an invasive fish species. The Rapide Croche lock was sealed decades ago to prevent AIS, especially sea lamprey, from entering Winnebago.
No AIS is desirable. But the sea lamprey would be especially deadly to the Winnebago system.
“It would change our world as we know it,” said Ron Bruch, retired Department of Natural Resources fisheries director and internationally-acclaimed sturgeon biologist.
The Lake Michigan lake trout population is Exhibit A in the ability of sea lampreys to devastate a fishery.
Before a control program was put in place in the Great Lakes about 50 years ago, sea lamprey predation was so high it became a key factor in the collapse of the Great Lakes ecosystem and economy
that it supported.
Tens of thousands of jobs were lost, property values were diminished, and a way of life was forever changed for millions of people, according to the commission.
So no one wants to see sea lampreys enter the Winnebago system, including Fox Locks officials.
However, local conservationists and anglers are concerned that a Fox Locks proposal to open the Menasha lock with an electric barrier and flush system will not be adequate to keep round gobies out of Winnebago.
And they are on high alert over information on the Fox Locks website regarding potential future changes to the Rapide Croche lock.
The statement says a boat lift and transfer station was too expensive and the authority is “seeking other, more effective ways of both opening navigation and preventing invasive species from getting into the system. An electric barrier similar to the one proposed for the Menasha lock is also under consideration for (Rapide Croche).”
Among the important facts at hand, the DNR would have to approve any change to the Menasha lock.
And before the Rapide Croche lock could be opened, a state statute would have to be changed. State law now requires the lock to be sealed to prevent AIS from passing into the Winnebago system.
So nothing is going to happen quickly at Rapide Croche, if ever. That, however, wasn’t satisfactory for many on hand at the meeting.
Bruch said decades ago the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service installed 169 electric barriers around the Great Lakes in an effort to stop sea lampreys. But the technology failed. None are still in use.
Instead, the agency treats tributary streams with a chemical to kill young lampreys.
In 1999, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated it would cost $10 million a year to treat the Winnebago system with the lamprey chemical.
“We know that sea lamprey and other aquatic invasive species are bad,” Bruch said. “And we know we’ve got this fabulous fishery that we have to be vigilant to protect.”