TOPIC:

Great Lakes Salmon Initiative

Now that deer season is winding down, Thanksgiving is past; more regular posts will be put up. There are many issues that need to be resolved in fisheries mgmt. on the Great Lakes concerning all salmonids.

Number 1 on the list is the 2020 Consent Decree! There are so many issues surrounding the decree that we can't mention them all here but we can give some items to discuss and think about. A 20yr decree with minimal room to maneuver around biological changes in the ecosystem is nothing short of destructive if not criminal in perspective. Example: Lake Trout management in northern L. Huron....the population is so high that it is negatively impacting the ecology of the lake. The tribes are aware of this yet we are so close to negotiations that nothing is going to be done, yet this is 2yrs away STILL! Yet we, tribes/state are still reacting to quotas set in the 2000 decree??

2019 for Lake Michigan is a Lame Duck session for fisheries managers. Planting numbers and locations have been set. The State of Michigan had to make more cuts again to stay in line with numbers set by the Lake Michigan Committee. Until bait fish numbers from assessments are published in April of 2019, discussions about increases in production will not be considered for 2020. January, in Ludington the first Sea Grant meeting happens every year and it is disappointing to get info from 2yrs previous not the year before. The GLSI has spoken to Jay Wesley and has a phone message left for Dan O'Keefe to see if we can get preliminary data from 2018 presented. Bait assessment numbers, catch rates by species and locations, creel data from anglers and charters. Also cwt data on Chinook---are as many Chinook migrating from Huron to Michigan?? Traditional fishing hot spots from these migrations have not occurred the last 2 seasons in the UP and the Door CTY Peninsula areas of Lake Michigan. If fish are not migrating from Huron to Michigan in numbers that they once were shouldn't L. Michigan see an increase in Plants??
Sea Grant meetings are a great way to get information but more up to date info should be provided--in todays world of technology, you would think this is entirely possible.

Lake Huron (main basin) has one notable positive change happening in 2019.. The Salmon and Trout sub-committee voted to approve 30K reduction in Chinook planting numbers at Swan Creek and to make up for that 90 to 100K coho plant in equivalents. This should provide an additional spring fishery in southern Huron and when they return to planting location or locations will provide a return fishery in the late summer and fall and we will see this as soon as 2020! The planting site/sites have not been determined yet but the decision should be made by the end of January. Anglers have been happy with the Atlantic fishery in the main basin and return fish to planting sites.

The steelhead being seen on Facebook posts have been impressive. Some absolute monsters are showing up, fat sassy and big. Let's see some of your catches!!