Fish Limits

[ekbelt]

For what its worth... I sent my 2 cents to the DNR fisheries about removing fish limits for the rest of the year, this is what came back. I'm ok with it... still think they could lift the limits even if their research shows it won't do anything.

From: Erik Konynenbelt

Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2012 9:03 AM

To: DNR-Fisheries

Subject: Salmon Fishing

With all the concerns about the alewive population collapsing and the salmon fishery in jeopardy, I believe there is something the DNR could do RIGHT NOW to help out. Remove the fish limits on salmon for the rest of 2012. The fisherman could do some damage to cut the population down!

Act on it! Remove fish limits!

Erik Konynenbelt

--------------------------------------Response

Mr. Konynenbelt,

Excellent point!

In 2009, this exact comment was presented to our Fisheries Division. Although it met a lot of resistance from Charter anglers, we raised the possession limit from 3 to 5 Chinook. As part of the process, we agreed to follow a policy that tracks catch rates to determine when to keep the bag limit at 5 or bring it back down to 3. I have attached a brief article on the policy. We have already announced that the bag limit will remain at 5 for 2012.

As you can see from the graph in the article, catch rates and harvest vary from year to year. Even with ample salmon in the lake, most anglers do not catch their limit now.

Also, our research indicates that recreational harvest is very difficult to predict and is not significant enough to reduce the Chinook numbers. Reduced stocking is our best bet to balance predator and prey numbers. Also, there are many social issues surrounding bag limits such as equitable catch, what is enough?, reasonable targets (people like to say they limited out – if limit is too high, it might be more difficult), etc.

If conditions continue to change and if there is more interest in a higher bag limit, we will pursue it. Right now, we would like to follow the existing policy.

We work with a Lake Michigan Citizens Fishery Advisory Committee, which is represented by many angler groups and anglers at large. They bring ideas to us and we bounce ideas off of them. To date, no other groups or organizations have indicated that they would like to see the bag limit above 5. Again, we will pursue it if there if public interest. However, we have not heard that much interest at this point in time.

Thanks for your comment.

Jay

Jay K. Wesley

Southern Lake Michigan Unit Manager/

Acting Lake Michigan Basin Coordinator

Fisheries Division

Department of Natural Resources

621 N. 10th Street

Plainwell, Michigan

269-685-6851 Ext. 117

[email protected]

Want to learn more about and comment on future salmon stocking in Lake Michigan? Check out the Michigan Sea Grant website http://www.miseagrant.umich.edu/fisheries/stocking/index.html

[GLF]

Jay is a member here.

[ekbelt]

Awesome... I have to say I was very impressed on how quick the response was!

[Killin' It]

I am just happy to see they are at least listening to what we have to say.... Kudos to that..

[mriversinco]

Very nice job, it's nice to see they're listening.

[jimbobber]

Erik, Maybe we should see if the Steelheaders would bring this to the dnr?Not sure what the state level people of the dteelheaders think on this subject but i can ask. jimmy

[ekbelt]

Good idea Jimmy! I was thinking, another idea is to encourage all tournaments this year to allow DNR limits as catch limits. Not necessarily weigh in limits, but let people catch as many as the DNR allows, and weigh in your best X fish.

[spoonfed]

sounds good, so you have done studies better than the fisheries. they have cut back on the stocking due to the reproduction rate of wild fish and the bait coming back. so lets get rid of limits and try to help out. what are you going to do when lake michigan is like lake huron in 5 yrs? sounds like an excellent idea, probably cheaper to run a bass boat anyways

[ekbelt]

Hey man... just trying to help out. Based on the fisheries studies there are too many fish out there in comparison to the bait. I'm not going to just sit on the sidelines and let the fishery collapse. Have any better ideas? Like Jay said in his email... if there is enough public interest in it hey would consider it. Sounds like you've got all the answers... care to share your plan?

[spoonfed]

You ready to fish it out and start over? Say they make it no limit, deck load salmon. sounds great! The bait that you say is depleted comes back. What happens if the carp move in, or some other invasive species? Or a collapse like Lake Huron? Or?...... Sounds good but look at the big picture! And to say theres not much bait, ive seen more in the last two years than before so i have to disagree on that!

[Twill23]

Its not just bait.its the number of alewives reaching adulthood. (4-7years). Population of immature alewives is "ok" but if enough don't make it, then there's no reproduction of alewives.

[ekbelt]

Exactly... and changing fish limits for the rest of 2012 (not forever), along with cutting the stocking which the DNR says will happen in 2013 could help them survive to maturity... sustaining the fishery.

[danthebuilder]

It'll never happen. Why? They fooled you guys into thinking there was a serious problem. They know there is enough people around from the other side of the state that will stick up for them. This is all to save $$$. They tell ghost stories & scare everyone into believing there is going to be a crash so they can save money and plant less fish. Hook line sinker. If there was a problem like they claim they would have already increased the catch rates for salmon. I will be happy to apologize and say that I am wrong if they increase the rates. I won't be holding my breath. You guys need to step up & demand they put the stocking numbers back up if they won't support higher catch rates immediately.

[Far Beyond Driven]

You didn't use to fish Lake Huron, did you? Fish Lake Michigan in the bkd era where 2 kings was a good day?

[Jay Wesley]

It'll never happen. Why? They fooled you guys into thinking there was a serious problem. They know there is enough people around from the other side of the state that will stick up for them. This is all to save $$$. They tell ghost stories & scare everyone into believing there is going to be a crash so they can save money and plant less fish. Hook line sinker. If there was a problem like they claim they would have already increased the catch rates for salmon. I will be happy to apologize and say that I am wrong if they increase the rates. I won't be holding my breath. You guys need to step up & demand they put the stocking numbers back up if they won't support higher catch rates immediately.

This has nothing to do with saving money. Chinook are the least expensive salmon or trout to raise. This is about looking at the trends of the lake and trying to prevent a collapse like Lake Huron. Based on the public comments to date, most anglers want to maintain a chinook fishery. In order to do that, we need to balance the predator and prey numbers. Yes. You are marking a lot of the 2010 year class of alewife. However, that is the only year class supporting the fishery now. We have stated that chinook stocking will increase if the prey rebound, so this is not about saving money. It is about saving a salmon fishery.

There is a ton of information on the Michigan Sea Grant web site. These data have been collected by each state's DNRs, United States Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and multiple university studies. They all come to a similar conclusion that we are predator heavy now. Take a look at it and while you are there take the survey and offer other ideas. The survey is open until May 15th. Thanks

[Jay Wesley]

Here are a couple of articles that may help with the discussion.

http://www.michigandnr.com/publications/pdfs/fishing/SalmonDailyBagLimitFAQ.pdf

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1577/M08-129.1#preview