Cause of low perch numbers remains hotly debated topic
An observation not intended to cause controversy has garnered some passionate responses.
Last Sunday's outdoors column shared that daily catch limits for yellow perch and walleye would remain the same in 2024 as in 2023, and background information was offered on how those limits get set.
Causes for the sorry state of yellow perch – and the 10-fish catch limit – within a large section of Lake Erie remain elusive, the piece said, and it's unlikely commercial fishing has had as much of an impact on the perch population as some anglers believe.
Some readers were incredulous, and the story earned plenty of web hits, suggesting widespread interest and a consequent need for clarity.
One reader wrote that he'd seen 10,000 pounds of perch floating in commercial nets a few years back and learned it was the third time such a huge take had occurred.
Another critic, chastising the “stupid argument” that appeared here last week, blamed government for allowing too many perch to be netted. Additionally, he suggested the Ohio Division of Wildlife allows netters to take more fish than they should because when the cheaters are caught, the division benefits from the windfall in fines.
A third observer provided a chart showing that between 2001 and 2021 the yellow perch total allowed catches, or TAC, has declined steadily with the commercial share of the annual take climbing exponentially beyond the sport take.
The chart, in fact, suggests that commercial netters in 2021 grabbed 96% of the yellow perch taken from the central basin of Lake Erie, while sport anglers ended up with about 1%.
Still, commercial and sport takers in 2021 together captured only about 36% of the TAC, meaning what was hauled
fell well inside limits deemed safe for perch regeneration by fishery experts.
What's astonishing is that 2001 was the last time anglers in the basin took at least 50% of numbers granted them under Ohio's split of the TAC. By 2015, the sport take had fallen to 5% and it has remained in single digits since.
Travis Hartman, the wildlife division's Lake Erie Fish Program administrator, said he's heard the arguments and more.
Responding in an email to the accusation about fines, he wrote, “Over the past 10 years there have been various commercial cases, but none has been for overharvesting perch.”
Before 2008, netters got some leeway and were allowed to take 10% extra on the last day they fished, he noted.
“If they had 1,000 pounds left (of their annual quota) on the last day they fished, it was OK to harvest 1,100 pounds,” Hartman wrote, “but that 100 extra pounds came off of their next year's quota. That isn't allowed anymore.”
He also pointed out that modern technology, including GPS vessel monitoring and electronic catch reporting, makes overharvesting difficult.
Furthermore, the links between the number of perch and the annual hatch aren't straightforward.
“The reality is that the right timing of spring conditions, not the number of perch, dictates hatch success,” he wrote. “We've had giant hatches with very few adult perch, and we've had poor hatches with lots of adults.”
And unlike walleye, which can live 20 years, perch from even an enormous hatch will be gone in about eight years whether they're caught or not, Hartman said.
Talking turkey
The youth wild turkey spring hunt takes place Saturday and next Sunday. The limit is a single bearded bird.
outdoors@dispatch.com