Beltrami County Board gets upbeat report on walleye recovery on Red Lake

By Brad Swenson

Pioneer Staff Writer

      Northern Beltrami County anxiously awaits the 2006 fishing season when catching walleyes once again becomes legal.

      “The walleye abundance is at its highest in 20 years, but very young,” Henry Drewes, state Department of Natural Resources regional fisheries manager, told Beltrami County commissioners on Tuesday.

      After the walleye population collapsed on both Upper and Lower Red lakes, the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, the state DNR and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1999 entered into a 10-year moratorium on walleye harvesting from the lakes.

      There has been three stocking efforts of walleyes since then, and officials are optimistic enough to re-open the lakes to walleye harvesting with the 2006 fishing season, Drewes said.

      But there will be changes to ensure that the walleye population remains self-sustaining, he adds.

      “We have a citizens advisory committee to help recommend policy,” he said. “We won’t get complete agreement, but one that most people can live with. Everyone has a statewide perspective because of the importance of the fishery.”

      The walleye harvest on Upper Red Lake will most likely involve some sort of slot and bag limit which is more restrictive than the current statewide walleye regulations, Drewes said. Under that system, anglers would be required to keep a daily limit of walleye under that of the state limit, which is six, and only walleye within certain length requirements.

      With stocking efforts in 1999, 2001 and 2003, most of the walleye are young, Drewes said, with one, three and five-year age classes. “Survival has been excellent, and we have had excellent compliance with the no-harvest rules,” he said.

      “There will be some trade-offs,” he said. “Bigger limits would mean shorter seasons. But most people want the same as the statewide season. And catch rates are important. There is a shift from the meat-oriented catch of the 1970s to fishing quality.”

      Preparations are underway now, hoping to be ready for what is perceived to be a fishing onslaught on opening day May 2006 on Upper Red Lake.

      A Red Lake Harvest Management Committee includes a host of officials from the North Beltrami Sportsmen’s Club, Upper Red Lake Area Association, Sunny Beach property owners, Minnesota Sportsfishing Congress, Congress of Minnesota Resorts, Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce, Blackduck Civic and Commerce and the Minnesota Fishing Roundtable.

      “They are looking at the biological and historical harvest options,” Drewes said, “and will meet again in early October to narrow down options. They haven’t looked at any one option, but they know it will be more restrictive than the statewide regulations.”

      In anticipation, there will be improvements to the Big Bog State Recreation Area at Waskish, a new fish cleaning house and more public amenities, Drewes said. Planned in 2005 are some trail upgrades in that area, and a bridge replacement or repair over the Tamarac River.

      In conjunction with that effort, Al Otto of Waskish Township asked commissioners Tuesday to consider a no-wake ordinance for the Tamarac River.

      “Boat traffic is going way too fast up and down the river,” Otto said. A no-way ordinance would protect the shoreline, the ecosystem and improve navigational safety.

      Board Chairman Ron Otterstad said such an ordinance could be in place for the 2005 boating season, and the county should be able to add the Tamarac River to an existing no-wake ordinance that covers three other Beltrami County water bodies. The addition, however, would also need DNR approval, which Drewes said should granted.

      Commissioner Quentin Fairbanks, in whose district the lakes lie and who is a member of the Harvest Management Committee, said other concerns include road and public safety. The Blackduck Ambulance Service has bought a new rig in anticipation of more service calls.

      And improvements need to be made to boat landings, lodging and even pull-off sections for vehicles pulling boats on roads to the area. “Trailers that have flats now end up in the middle of the road, or in the ditch,” he said.

      Waskish may also seek a lower speed limit through the village than the current 55 mph.

      Still at question are the plans of the Red Lake Nation for its portion of the fishery which is most of it. The Red Lake Reservation includes 230,000 acres of Lower and Upper Red lakes, about 80 percent of the water body.

      Prior to the walleye collapse, band members engaged in an active commercial netting operation of walleye, with a fish processing plant at Redby run by a band fishing association.

      A return to commercial fishing by the band isn’t out of the question, Drewes said, but restrictions would be in place to ensure the walleye population remains self-sustaining.

      “We have a committee working for a harvest framework with set quotas for each jurisdiction to prevent a collapse again,” he said.

      The tribe has contracted with Bemidji State University researchers to conduct this fall an economic analysis of options the band may consider for its portion of a walleye harvest, Drewes said. “That will stimulate lots of discussion.”

      The relationship between the band and the state “has been excellent,” he added. “They may decide on netting … it’s up to them to stay within safe harvest levels.”

      While some band members have openly opposed a return to commercial netting, others have suggested a limited sportsfishing effort to provide non-band members with hired band fishing guides. Still others want the reservation waters closed to any kind of non-band or commercial harvest.

      “It would need a vote to open up the lakes to such fishing,” Fairbanks, a Red Lake Band member, said. “Everybody has their own opinion. I’ll tell you (which option) in a year and a half.”

      The return of the walleye comes at a good time, Drewes said, as a tremendous black crappie harvest that has sustained Upper Red Lake tourism during the walleye moratorium is now waning.

      “What happened was a sheer accident, a blessing,” he said. “There have always been crappies in Red Lake, but during the collapse the crappies pulled off the mother of all hatches. The harvest the last five years has been on the back of that one year class.”

      The crappie population has peaked, and in the next two to three years, crappies will become a background species to walleyes, northern pike and yellow perch, he said.

      “We were very fortunate,” Drewes said.

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