'No-harvest' rules for Minocqua Chain walleye likely again
Five years of prohibition on walleye harvest in northern Wisconsin's Minocqua Chain has produced only one of its five desired outcomes.
Perhaps most importantly, it has failed to restore a self-sustaining level of natural reproduction of the prized fish. So partners in the project have called for another year of no-harvest regulations on the Oneida County waters.
"The adult walleye population in the chain is on the right trajectory," said Mike Vogelsang, area fisheries supervisor with the Department of Natural Resources. "But the group decided to give it another year and hopefully help it hit more of the targets."
The Natural Resources Board is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a proposed emergency rule to extend the walleye protections.
Sport and tribal harvest of walleyes has been prohibited since 2015 on the Minocqua Chain, which includes lakes Kawaguesaga, Minocqua, Mid, Little Tomahawk and Tomahawk.
Walleye numbers had plummeted on the waters and a diverse group of agencies
and stakeholders rallied in support of a five-year, no-kill rule and a commitment to study the hoped-for recovery.
Partners in the project included the DNR, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company, Lac du Flambeau Tribe, Walleyes For Tomorrow and several local residents and business owners.
Benchmarks were set, including a population of three adult walleyes per acre in Minocqua and Kawaguesaga, two in Tomahawk and 10 young-of-theyear (or age-0) walleye per mile in Minocqua and Kawaguesaga.
Sport anglers have been allowed catch-and-release fishing for walleyes.
The regulation was intended to allow walleyes to grow and reproduce without harvest pressure. It was scheduled to end this year. However, even after several years of intensive stocking, extremely poor natural reproduction of walleyes has been documented (0.54 age-0 per mile in Kawaguesaga and 0.10 in Minocqua).
The levels are far below what would be necessary to sustain a naturally reproducing walleye population, according to fisheries experts. And only one lake – Minocqua, at 3.78 – hit the goal for adult walleye. Kawaguesaga was at 2.61 last year, and Tomahawk has not been assessed since 2015, when it was 0.70.
Walleyes are a chief draw in the fishing and tourism industries in northern Wisconsin. But a troubling, widespread downturn in walleyes in the north country has been documented in recent years.
Several studies, including one based on Wisconsin data, have linked the walleye crisis to warming waters.
The Minocqua Chain recovery plan included planting about 20,000 extended growth walleye fingerlings in Lake Minocqua and Lake Kawaguesaga in odd-numbered years and about 34,000 in Lake Tomahawk in even-numbered years.
The fish were supplied by the Woodruff State Fish Hatchery; in some years, the eggs were taken from adult walleyes on the Minocqua Chain, Vogelsang said.
A public meeting was held last October in Woodruff to discuss the project. Results of the public input assessment at the meeting and online indicated more than 90% of respondents supported extending the current catch-and-release regulation.
The project partners voted unanimously in favor of another year of noharvest on the chain, Vogelsang said.
If approved by the board, the walleye harvest prohibition on the Minocqua Chain would run until May 2021.