From today's Milwaukee Journal:
The six bands of Chippewa tribes in northern Wisconsin have declared intentions to spear 61,723 walleyes in 2017, a 6% increase from last year and third highest since they began exercising their off-reservation treaty rights in the 1980s, according to the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission.
The harvest declarations are spread across 472 lakes and five lake chains in the ceded territory, essentially the northern one-third of Wisconsin.
Jonathan Gilbert, GLIFWC director of biological services, notified the Department of Natural Resources of the tribes’ plans on March 15.
The declarations are part of an annual process conducted by tribal representatives and state officials to manage fish populations. The actual harvest has ranged from 44% to 58% of the declaration over the last four years.
The 2017 declarations by band are Bad River, 5,886 walleyes; Lac Court Oreilles, 7,030; Lac du Flambeau, 27,434; Mole Lake, 13,179; Red Cliff, 2,200, and St. Croix, 5,994.
The 1983 Voigt case affirmed the right of the Chippewa tribes to hunt, fish and gather in the ceded territory. Since the late 1980s, the tribes have exercised their right to take walleyes and other fish by spearing and, to a lesser extent, netting.
The highest 2017 declaration was made on the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage in Iron County (5,024 walleyes), followed by the Chippewa Flowage in Sawyer County (3,738), Pelican Lake in Oneida County (2,473) and Big Eau Pleine Reservoir in Marathon County (2,436).
On Vilas County’s Lac Vieux Desert, beset by extremely poor recruitment of walleyes for the last decade and a plummeting adult population, the Mole Lake Band declared intentions to spear 210 walleyes.
Under a draft plan, the Lac Vieux Desert Band (in Michigan) and the Mole Lake Band would agree to not spear or net walleyes on the 4,300-acre lake from 2018 through 2022. The sport bag limit and size regulations would also change in 2018 to protect more adult walleyes on the lake.
The Wisconsin tribes also declared 1,577 muskellunge in 2017, including 44 on the Turtle-Flambeau, 32 on the Chippewa Flowage and 25 on the Willow Flowage in Oneida County.
Last year the tribes took 32,623 walleyes, slightly above the 10-year average of 31,414. The highest walleye harvests were recorded on the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage (3,293), followed by Chippewa Flowage (1,373), the Twin Lakes chain (1,054), Long Lake in Washburn County (1,080) and Willow Flowage (947), according to GLIFWC data from last May.The 2016 harvest was 58% of the declaration.
Tribal members speared 38,595 walleyes in 2015, most since the Chippewa bands began exercising their off-reservation rights to hunt and gather in the modern era.
Still, the spearing harvest is a fraction of that taken by sport anglers, according to the DNR. From 2008-'12, the agency estimated sport anglers harvested nearly 10 times as many walleyes as the tribes.
The tribal take of walleyes by spearing, especially during the spawning period, has drawn criticism from sport anglers for decades.
But the 2016 spring spearing season generated less publicity under rules implemented in 2015 that allow the DNR to set a three-walleye bag limit on all northern lakes, regardless of tribal declarations.
Before the rule change, the agency typically would reduce sport bag limits in response to tribal harvest declarations in an effort to keep the combined tribal and sport harvest within a "safe limit" on each water. Many lakes were reduced to two or one walleye daily bag limits.
The standard limit is five fish.
The rule change enacted in 2015 by the Natural Resources Board allows the DNR to keep the sport bag limit at three walleyes on all waters in northern Wisconsin (with a few exceptions, such as the Minocqua chain, which has a zero bag limit during a restoration project).
The DNR uses a series of slot limits and other restrictions to help control the sport take.
The reasons for declines in walleye populations in northern lakes aren't completely understood and are the subject of many studies. Historically, though, over-harvest has plagued the popular fish. It is likely contributing to walleye shortages now, too.
Heated protests by spearing opponents haven't occurred in many years.
However, as walleye populations dwindle in many northern lakes, high tribal declarations and harvests will only increase acrimony.
The tribes long ago proved they can exercise their rights in the ceded territory.
When it comes to walleye harvests in troubled waters, now is the time for all fishermen -- sport and tribal alike -- to exercise restraint.
The future of the fishery demands it.
