Approximately 50 people attended and offered input at an Oct. 15 public forum in Hayward on the “Walleye Initiative” proposed by Governor Walker and put into effect this year.
The initiative is providing funding to greatly expand the hatchery production of large walleye fingerlings to stock in public waters where needed. Also, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will update its walleye management plan.
Numerous DNR fisheries staff attended last week’s forum here, including state bureau director Mike Staggs, fisheries section director Ron Bruch, local fisheries supervisor Dave Neuswanger and the state hatcheries supervisor.
The main presenter was Steve AveLallemant, Northern Region fisheries supervisor, who stated walleyes are the top target for fishermen in Wisconsin. They’re important in the tourism industry and also to the Chippewa tribe. Up to this point, the demand for stocking large fingerlings has exceeded the supply.
At the same time, there has been a regional decline in walleye numbers. “In the ceded territory, we’ve got more than 25 years of intensive walleye survey information,” AveLallemant said. “We have a pretty good pulse on what’s going on. It’s not all lakes, but on the average there has been a decline.”
For many years, the combined tribal and sport angler harvest limit has been set by fishery managers at 35 percent of the adult walleye population in order to preserve the population’s stability.
“At this time, it does not look like harvest (exploitation) is a driving factor in this walleye population decline,” AveLallemant said. “It certainly is one of the factors.”
Walleye plan
The Wisconsin Walleye Initiative was developed by Governor Scott Walker and the DNR to increase the number of walleyes in state walleye waters by expanding production of large fingerling walleye at state, private and tribal fish hatcheries for stocking in waters accessible to the public. “This historic investment in Wisconsin’s walleye fishery will benefit all users and Wisconsin’s angling related economy,” the DNR says.
The initiative approved by the legislature includes:
• $8.2 million for infrastructure improvements and $1.3 million each year for annual operating costs to expand production at DNR state fish hatcheries. Production should increase from 60,000 to 120,000 large walleye fingerlings to well over 500,000 by 2016. The source of these funds is fishing and hunting licenses sold to the public—the fish and wildlife account.
Raising the large fingerlings is “fairly expensive. They eat a lot of minnows,” AveLallemant said. “We don’t go out in the bush and collect minnows any more. We contract to purchase them.”
• One-time funding of $2 million for a competitive grant program for municipal, tribal and private aquaculture facilities to improve their infrastructure and enhance the capabilities to stock additional large fingerling walleye in Wisconsin’s waters.
• $500,000, annually, beginning FY14-15 to purchase large fingerling walleye for stocking in Wisconsin’s waters from private fish farms; and $160,000 for the University of Wisconsin-Extension to work with these fish farms on becoming more efficient.
•$250,000 in General Purpose Revenue annually to expand the summer Tribal Youth Program. This program is a state-tribal partnership, with a 50-50 funding split, that provides tribal high school-aged youth an opportunity to work on natural resource-related projects during the summer.
Stocking considerations
After the initiative was approved by the legislature in June, DNR shifted more of its walleye production from small fingerling walleyes that are 1 to 2 inches to the larger fingerlings that are 4 to 8 inches. Those larger fish were stocked out this fall based on the requests biologists submitted earlier for fish for stocking. The increased production is allowing DNR this year to go deeper in filling the list of requests made and providing more fish.
In 2013, the state hatcheries stocked 400,000 large fingerlings in 100 lakes, and in 2014-15, the plan is to stock 850,000 of the fingerlings in 200 lakes.
Stocking considerations include:
• Restoring a walleye fishery on lakes where walleyes once naturally reproduced and were dominant in the fish community, but that is no longer the case;
• Maintenance of a walleye fishery on lakes which could support walleyes.
The Walleye Initiative “won’t wind up being ‘a walleye in every pot,’ AveLallemant said. “It’s a lot more fish; it’s a great thing, but it can’t cover all of the demand.”
The Governor Tommy G. Thompson State Hatchery at Spooner collects walleye eggs from fish in Sissabagama Lake and Lac Courte Oreilles (the Chippewa River basin) in the spring to hatch and grow at the hatchery. The genetic strain of the fish from which eggs are collected is one of the considerations, AveLallemant said.
Chippewa Flowage resident Doug Kurtzweil said it takes too long to put new fishing regulations into effect. “We’ve been trying for eight years to modify the unscientific, arbitrary largemouth bass regs that went into effect 20 years ago,” he said. “Many lakes in Bayfield and Sawyer counties were great naturally-reproducing walleye lakes until the mid 1990s. Bass populations have exploded to the point where they’re stunting themselves. Finally, we will be able to harvest largemouth bass on the first Saturday in May next year.”
On the Big Chip, private stocking is trying to maintain the resident walleye population, Kurtzweil said. In addition to being able to harvest more largemouth bass on the Chip, there needs to be a minimum size limit on walleye there, he said.
AveLallemant responded that it might be possible to implement new regulations more rapidly, but added that it may “take a long time for a new regulation to work, to see if you’ve made any difference.” He added that there are a number of ongoing studies to try to find out what is causing the decline in walleye populations.
Max Wolter, fisheries biologist for Sawyer County, said that “some of our best walleye lakes in the area—Lac Courte Oreilles, Grindstone, Round—were originally stocked fisheries, not native walleyes. It took a long time.”
Local guide and resort owner John Myhre said that “A lot of things have happened to make bass the dominant fish” in some lakes.
Ron Bergman, a veteran walleye and panfish guide on the Chippewa Flowage, said the Flowage “was the finest walleye factory in Wisconsin. It went downhill. We fell in a hole and now we’re working to get out. Our lakes up here are important to everyone in Wisconsin, and the the people from Minnesota coming here.”
An audience member said that over the past 12 years, Walleyes for Northwest Wisconsin has put back more than $200,000 into restocking the local fisheries, and lake associations have put back at least another $200,000. “We’ve recognized for years now that something had to be done,” he said.
Dave Neuswanger, Chippewa Basin fisheries team leader for the DNR, said that in the Chippewa Flowage “We’ve got more big spawners (walleye) than ever, but less reproductive survival than ever.” Reproductive success seems to depend on what happens after the eggs are laid, rather than on how many big walleyes there are in the lake, he indicated.
Neuswanger said the goal set at public visioning meetings held recently is 4 to 8 adult walleyes per acre in the Flowage, with 20 to 40 percent of those fish being over 15 inches long. He added that “We will employ a package of strategies to get where you’ve told us you want to go.” Neuswanger said fisheries managers will propose a 15-inch size minimum for angler-harvested walleye on the Chippewa Flowage.
Chippewa Flowage resident Rick Marks said the investment made by the Big Chip Fish Fest in stocking 87,000 extended growth walleyes in the flowage at a cost of $130,000 over the past several years needs to be “protected” with regulation.
Al McElroy said the Flowage has been “shortchanged” in state stocking efforts compared to other lakes.
AveLallemant said, “We’re not sure what the optimal stocking rate is (for extended growth fingerlings). We use 10 per acre as a guide.” This time around, there wasn’t enough space or money at the hatcheries to produce 160,000 fingerlings for the 16,000-acre Flowage, he indicated.
AveLallemant said the lakes to be stocked with the expanded walleye production in 2014 will be determined by the end of January. He said he hopes the funding will continue beyond the two years outlined in the Walleye Initiative and that “We have to show a really good process and move forward together” as a public-private partnership in order to justify continued funding for the initiative.
While the Walleye Initiative is a “good effort,” that alone won’t bring back the May tourism business that there used to be, he added. Local businesses say there isn’t the May “pulse” there once was, and that the tourism season doesn’t really begin until June.