Article from MN DNR Website @ Multiple Approaches Needed to Improve Leech Lake Walleye Fishing
In an effort to improve Leech Lake walleye fishing, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Leech Lake Band will address issues raised by the area community about controlling cormorants, stocking walleye, changing walleye regulations and conserving and restoring habitat.
Approximately 200 people attended a citizen input meeting last Wednesday in Walker to express concern over an increase in fish-eating cormorants and a decrease in walleye fishing quality.
“The citizens spoke and we heard them,” said Mark Holsten, DNR Deputy Commissioner. “We want the situation to improve and we will work with the local community to do just that.” Holsten was among several DNR staff that participated in last week’s meeting, which was sponsored by the Leech Lake Association and facilitated by environmental specialist Don Hickman of the Initiative Foundation.
The DNR, Leech Lake Band and Leech Lake area residents have met several times since last spring. All agree the number of nesting double-crested cormorants has increased significantly, that Leech Lake has not produced a strong walleye year class since 1997 and that the situation needs greater attention. Citizens at Wednesday’s meeting strongly supported controlling cormorants.
The group also expressed various levels of support for walleye stocking and developing a special fishing regulation that could lead to more restrictive harvest regulations in 2005.
Cormorant control is often misunderstood, in part, because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a rule late last year that grants some authority to the DNR and tribal officials to control the birds in order to prevent harm to fish and other public resources. The rule, however, retains the federal government’s ultimate authority for managing this species under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
“Cormorants can be shot under Minnesota law because they are an unprotected species,” explained Holsten. “However, the cormorant is protected under federal law. The DNR can not control 90 percent of the cormorant population without demonstrating why control is necessary with scientific data.”
Holsten said local citizen and intergovernmental cooperation is critical, especially with the Leech Lake Band. That’s because the Leech Lake cormorants nest on Little Pelican Island, which is owned and managed by the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. “As we work through this issue our approach must reflect the federal government’s regulatory authority and the band’s right to manage their lands.”
Holsten said the DNR will initiate immediately four inter-related actions with citizens and others to improve walleye fishing on Leech Lake:
– Develop options for proposed special fishing regulations that will be discussed with citizens this winter and potentially implemented in the 2005 fishing season
– Coordinate with the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe to initiative cormorant control and collaborate on research that will help the DNR comply with the federal government’s regulatory process. The Leech Lake Band was notified last week that it will receive a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that will allow the Band, DNR, University of Minnesota and others to examine the affects of cormorant predation on walleye and perch populations in Leech Lake
– Stock specially marked walleye fry in 2005 to help determine why small walleye numbers are in short supply
– Develop long- and short-term habitat goals that minimize or eliminate impacts to fish habitat. This will be done in conjunction with the tribe and the Governor’s Water Initiative for potential application in other parts of the state.
“Our Leech Lake fisheries staff, as well as others in the DNR, are increasingly concerned about cormorants’ affect on fishing. This is due to their rising numbers and recent research from Lake Onedia in New York that speaks to impact a large cormorant population can have on a fishery,” said Ron Payer, DNR fisheries program manager. He added the DNR and citizens need to work together “to understand why the lake hasn’t produced a strong walleye class in recent years and to achieve the outcomes we all want.”
Hickman, the facilitator of last week’s meeting, said the majority of participants viewed controlling the cormorant as a key outcome. He added that when asked for a show of hands, a significant majority expressed support for posting the lake in preparation of the development of more restrictive fishing regulations.
The double-crested cormorant is native to Minnesota. The species was decimated throughout North America following World War II due pesticides such as DDT and other human actions. The bird has made a remarkable recovery due to the ban on DDT and federal protection under the Migratory Bird Treat Act.
Today, the North American population is estimated at upward of two million, with the bulk of them nesting in Great Lakes states and Canada. Minnesota has about 35 cormorant colonies, a number that is higher than in recent decades but believed to be less than in earlier historical times. At Leech Lake, the cormorants are out-competing the common tern, a state-threatened species that nests alongside the cormorants on Little Pelican Island.
Initial efforts to reduce their nesting habitat last fall failed to have an impact on the size of the breeding population in 2004. Today, about 5,000 cormorants nest on Little Pelican Island, about twice the number as in 2003.
Can you catch cormorants with gill nets? 