Pioneer Editorial: Success story in Red Lake walleye return

(The following editorial appeared in the Bemidji Pioneer on Friday, August 6, 2004.)

      Beltrami County commissioners received good news this week for northern county tourism - the Red Lake walleye are back.

      Henry Drewes, state Department of Natural Resources regional fisheries manager, told commissioners in his update that efforts to both restock Upper and Lower Red lakes with walleye and to actively impose a moratorium on walleye harvesting by all jurisdictions that control the lake has succeeded in restoring walleye populations to the lake.

      After the walleye population collapsed chiefly because of over-fishing, the state DNR, the Red Lake Band of Chippewa and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1999 entered into a unique agreement of which the cornerstone was a 10-year moratorium by all jurisdictions on harvesting walleye. Such foresight has helped return a species to a lake body that holds significance to both Indians and non-Indians. The lakes were restocked three times with walleye from Lake Vermilion, a strain virtually identical to the Red Lake walleye strain and one which has taken hold.

      The success of the joint effort is so pronounced that the moratorium will come off early spring 2006 causing local officials to begin planning now for what will surely become a new tourism attraction for northern Beltrami County, based in part on the pressure seen in the off-years as black crappie angling became a winter focus.

      Tough decisions lay ahead, however, both for northern Beltrami tourism officials who must prepare for an onslaught of walleye anglers through infrastructure improvements and for the Red Lake Band as its members decide how to control its walleye harvest. As the Red Lake Band controls 80 percent of Upper and Lower Red lakes, its decision on walleye management is crucial to the sustainability of the fledgling walleye fishery.

      Whether the band returns to commercial netting, allows sportsfishing under band-controlled circumstances or provides only tribal member sustenance fishing, the walleye harvest needs to be managed under strict quotas set for the entire lake band and anglers alike to prevent a walleye collapse from occurring again.

      Committees have been formed to study options for seasons, slot limits, daily catch limits and sustainable quotas, and the success of those efforts will set in motion a management plan to guide the fishery for generations in the future to enjoy. So far, the collaboration between all jurisdictions has been commendable. Former Red Lake Chairman Bobby Whitefeather and former DNR Commissioner Rod Sando also need to be commended for their foresight in proposing and following through with the moratorium and restocking effort.

      It’s not often in natural resources management that a second chance is given. We need to make the best of it.

www.bemidjipioneer.com