April 5, 1996
TO: Lake Michigan Fisheries Community
FROM: Bill Horns, Great Lakes Specialist
SUBJECT: Lake Michigan Fisheries Issues
This is the third in a series of occasional memos about Lake Michigan fisheries issues. If you have questions about these issues, or about any others, please call me at 608.266.8782, or send me a note. I can also be reached through the internet at "william.horns@wisconsin.gov".
We have passed a milestone in lake trout restoration in Lake Superior. Because natural reproduction in Lake Superior now accounts for over 80% of the mature lake trout along most of the south shore, Wisconsin and Michigan will curtail stocking of federally-raised fish in that area. (Wisconsin will continue to stock state-raised lake trout in the western end of the lake.) As a result of this decision, fish originally raised by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Iron River National Fish Hatchery for stocking in Lake Superior will be available for stocking in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.
Current plans are to stock over two million federally-raised yearling lake trout in Lake Michigan in 1996. Lake trout are now stocked at a larger size (10-12 per pound) than in the past (20 per pound). This reflects abandonment of an earlier federal policy of limiting growth in the hatchery in order to meet a size-at-stocking target of 20 per pound, and means that lake trout stocked are not only larger, but also healthier. Because the larger fish demand more space in the hatcheries, fewer fish are produced and fewer fish are available for stocking than had been the case under the old policy. However, we believe that the larger fish will survive better, resulting in more mature fish for fishing and restoration. Incidentally, Mike Toneys, our Great Lakes Supervisor in Sturgeon Bay, has prepared a report entitled "Progress Toward Lake Trout Restoration in Lake Michigan." If you would be interested in having a copy, let me know.
The percentage of lake trout bearing wounds from attacks by sea lamprey is an index of the effectiveness of the lamprey control program. Wounding rates in Lake Michigan are still low, but have apparently increased somewhat over the past decade, especially in the northern part of the lake. In part this reflects the difficulty of effectively treating the St. Mary's River, which flows from Lake Superior into northern Lake Huron. Offspring of lamprey that spawn in the St. Mary's River drift downstream and mature in northern Lake Huron and northern Lake Michigan. A decade ago, wounding rates lakewide averaged less than 4%. In 1995, the wounding rate in northern Lake Michigan reached 12.5%. In Wisconsin waters north of Sheboygan the rate was 7.1%, while in Wisconsin waters south of Sheboygan the rate was 2.6%.
Acting through the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, the United States and Canada have successfully controlled lamprey abundance in the Great Lakes, and thereby allowed a remarkable renewal of recreational and commercial fishing in the Great Lakes. Now, with both governments cutting spending, sustained support for the sea lamprey control program is in question. Recently Canada announced that its contribution to the program will be 25% less in 1996 than in 1995. U.S. funding has not been increased, so when combined with the effects of inflation the Canadian cut means that in 1996 the Commission will be over $2 million short of what it needs to sustain the program at 1995 levels. According to the Commission, the program will be significantly compromised; ten tributaries that would otherwise be treated with lampricide will go untreated. In addition, the Commission's ability to develop alternative control methods will be hampered.
Commercial fishers have raised concerns regarding the transfer of commercial licenses and quotas to designated individuals in the event of the death or incapacity of the license holder. Currently, designated transferees and immediate family members must be denied the license and quotas and may not transfer them for value unless they meet a set of requirements for holding a license. The proposed rule changes would give potential transferees more time to qualify and would reduce the number of conditions that a transferee must meet in order to temporarily hold and transfer a license and quotas. A hearing on the proposed rule changes will take place at 5:00 p.m. on April 16 (1996) in classroom E143, UWC-Manitowoc County, 705 Viebahn, Manitowoc.
This winter (1995-96) many of you were concerned about Senate Bill 457. This bill dealt with the allocation of annual total allowable commercial harvests among commercial licensees. Currently, the Lake Michigan and Lake Superior commercial fishing boards have the authority to establish formulas for such allocations, with the DNR holding the power to set total harvest limits. SB 457, which was initiated by the DNR, was intended to address concerns raised by the State Ethics Board and the Assistant Attorney General for antitrust matters about the propriety of the current legal structure and authority of the commercial fishing boards. The bill would have transferred quota allocation rulemaking authority to the DNR, but retained the fishing boards as expert advisory bodies on quota allocation matters. The wording of SB 457 raised concerns among commercial fishers that the DNR might alter established allocation formulas. Attempts to craft an amendment that would eliminate or reduce that possibility foundered on concerns about explicitly or implicitly creating property rights in harvest quotas, which in turn could impair the DNR's authority to regulate commercial fishing. In the end, SB 457 died when the Senate adjourned until 1997.
As you know, this year Wisconsin will go back to the five fish daily bag limit for coho salmon. This has raised some concerns in Illinois, where Salmon Unlimited submitted a petition signed by 1279 individuals calling for the Illinois Fish Chief to urge Wisconsin to return to the three fish daily bag limit. As we did for yellow perch, we must work with the other states to seek agreement on management strategies for coho salmon and other highly migratory species. Lee Kernen has asked me to work with sport fishing leaders here in Wisconsin and with the other states to seek lakewide consensus (which might or might not mean uniformity) on salmon bag limits. Incidentally, the coho are coming. The spring fishery for coho in Indiana started early and was exceptional, with very high catch rates and large sizes reported. This bodes well for coho fishing in 1996 in Wisconsin waters.
The Yellow Perch Task Group, organized through the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and composed of fisheries managers and scientists from around Lake Michigan, has completed development of a research agenda to address the problem of recruitment failure by yellow perch in the southern part of the lake. The document, entitled "Multi-Agency Yellow Perch Research Initiative," is composed of five research proposals dealing with the key questions identified by the Task Group. If you would like to see a copy of these proposals, let me know.
Each year we prepare a set of reports for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission's Lake Michigan Committee. This year the reports, are compiled in a 58-page document. If you would like to have a copy, let me know. A number oftopics are covered, including sport harvests, weir harvests, fish health information, reports on the status of some fish stocks (e.g., chubs, yellow perch, lake whitefish), the Great Lakes spotted muskellunge program, and northern pike habitat restoration in western Green Bay.