Walleye

Management of walleye populations are complex due to fisheries being located in the Great Lakes, which are managed by both the US and Canada, and inland waterways within state jurisdictions of the U.S. and Canadian provinces.

Great Lakes:

As the Great Lakes encompass two countries, multiple states, one province, and a number of tribal lands, the management of walleye is complex. To address coordination and shared management of the resource, the United States and Canadian governments formed the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) in 1954. The GLFC consists of four Canadian and four American commissioners who are appointed by their governments and supported by a secretariat in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 1981, the GLFC enacted the non-binding Joint Strategic Plan for Management of Great Lakes Fisheries that has been subsequently reviewed in 1986 and last amended in 1997 in an effort to better coordinate fishery and environmental management issues in the Great Lakes.

Within the GLFC, each Great Lake has its own Lake Committee that is made up of state, provincial, and tribal representatives of the actual fishery management bodies for that lake (with additional support by various federal agencies). The GLFC and Lake Committees are not responsible for day-to-day fishery management, but rather serve as a platform to bring together multiple agencies involved in Great Lakes fisheries to better coordinate research, enforcement, stocking, quotas, and to address other fishery issues. Lake Committees were first established by the GLFC in 1965 as the mechanism for individual agencies to share information; however, it was only after the 1981 Joint Strategic Plan that these Committees became tasked with establishing fishery management goals (called Fish Community Objectives) for each lake and to set agreed-upon yearly harvest levels. They also produce a “state-of-the-lake” report every five years to summarize fishery trends and status. Lake Committees are supported by Technical Committees, which conduct stock assessments and collect fishery data, interpret science, and then make management recommendations to the Lake Committee. Any management objectives that the Lake Committees agree-upon are implemented and managed by the individual state, provincial, or tribal agencies – usually by that state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNRs). These agencies are ultimately responsible for the day-to-day management of the fishery and are responsible for issuing fishing licenses, determining harvest levels, as well as for carrying out other management actions such as establishing size, gear, and area restrictions. DNRs, as well as federal agencies like the US Coast Guard, carry out on-water and on-dock inspections and enforce management measures.

In the United States, commercial fisheries are prohibited in the Great Lakes in order to protect recreational walleye fisheries, however, there is a small commercial fishery in Red Lake, Minnesota.

Red Lakes (Minnesota):

The walleye fishery in the Red Lakes is managed jointly by the Red Lake Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Program, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MNDNR), and the United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The Red Lake Fisheries Program was started in 1987 and is the responsible party for the management and conservation of fish in Chippewa Indian Reservation waters of the Upper and Lower Red Lakes. When the walleye population in the Red Lakes collapsed in the 1990s, commercial fishing was suspended and a recovery plan was put in place. The recovery plan included fry stocking, strong enforcement of the fishing ban, and a data collection program to track the health of the walleye population. The recovery plan was highly successful and the fishery was reopened in 2006, which was much earlier than anticipated. When the fishery reopened in 2006, a Harvest Plan was adopted. This Harvest Plan was recently revised in 2015. The goal of the Harvest Plan is to define safe fishing levels that will maintain the spawning population at optimal levels and facilitate the long-term maintenance of the walleye population.

Fishing in Reservation waters of the Red Lakes is open to Band members only. Of the annual catch limit for Band waters, 90% is allocated to the commercial fishery, while the rest is left for personal use. The Red Lakes Fisheries Program regulates fishing by setting gear, size, and daily bag limit restrictions. Regulations change yearly for the commercial fishery, but currently, there is a daily limit of 100 walleye, and only walleye between 14 and 22 inches may be retained.

Recently, regulations were relaxed in both Reservation and state waters because of the healthy abundance of the walleye population.

Manitoba (Canada):

The fishery for Lake Manitoba walleye and sauger is managed with a cumulative quota of 907,200 kg, a seasonal closure that closes the fishery from March 16 until ice or November 1 and thus closes the fishery during walleye spawning, and a minimum mesh size of 95 mm. Annual monitoring occurs, and estimates of maximum sustainable yield are available for walleye (but not for other species in the fishery). Management strategy and implementation are scored "ineffective" by Seafood Watch due to the lack of references against which to assess abundance indices and the lack of an obvious mechanism for adjusting allowable walleye catches downward in times of declining abundance.