The following article was posted on the "Walleye List" www.walleyelist.com
by Bob Hesse
I contacted Fred Snyder, a biologists with Ohio Sea Grant who has studied
Lake Erie since 1974 (and who is a dedicated fisherman), and asked him about the
Lake Erie spawn fishing debate and he responded. He gave me permission to
use his statement, it is very long (and very interesting). I think Fred has to
be considered an authority on Lake Erie and its fish and I have found him to be
very honest and open about
the lake every time I have questioned him. Not only that but he’s a nice guy
:-) Bob
Fred said:
"I do not believe that Lake Erie sport fishing, as it currently is
regulated by the states, has a negative impact on our sport fish
populations. Reasons?
The Great Lakes Fishery Commission uses population data supplied by the states
and Ontario to set walleye harvest quotas, aimed at protecting the integrity of
these populations. They determine an allowable harvest that protects a spawning
stock large enough to maintain the population. Ohio, the largest sport harvester
by far, is consistently BELOW its allotted quota each year.
Are we overharvesting? In any overharvested fish population, the most
desirable fish (big-uns) are removed at a rate that crops the population down to
the point where relatively few keepers remain.. The population is cropped downed
to the minimum acceptable size - i.e., it seems nothing but little ones are
left. Clearly, survival that allows successful reproduction is the
critical point. Is survival adequate?
PWT anglers just brought in 346 walleyes weighing over 10 lbs. each. To
provide that quality of fishing requires large numbers of fish to survive to old
age. And this harvest of older, trophy size walleye has been consistent
for many years - there are always more.
Every time the PWT comes to western Lake Erie (I think it’s about nine
times now), they always set big fish records. If sport fishing was hurting
the population, shouldn’t they be catching fewer big ones, not more of them?
I also submit that these larger walleye need to be caught if we are to gain
maximum benefit from the fishery. By the time a female has reached 8-10
years old, she has spawned several times, successfully replacing herself (and
others). At this age, while her egg numbers may be high, the viability of the
eggs has dropped greatly - she’s worth less as a spawner than a 4-6 year old
female. Look at any hatchery and you won’t see a breeder trout over five
or six pounds. Much better fry production comes from younger, smaller females,
so the hatchery manager gets rid of the big-uns. They aren’t worth
feeding. In Lake Erie, the best fry production comes from female walleye
in the 17-24 inch range. Those are the ones most anglers put in the cooler
while releasing the whoppers "to spawn." TV star anglers have
done a lot to romanticize this practice.
So should we be restricting fishing during March and April or making anglers
throw back walleye in the 17-24 inch range? No.
Remember the allowable harvest concept. Lake Erie has a high rate of fish
production, and current regulations keep harvest within the surplus that can be
safely removed. Our evidence of this is the overall high survival rate that lets
us catch bigger walleye on the average than anywhere else in this country - year
after year.
I hope no one is still complaining that overfishing wiped out the huge walleye
population we had in the late 1980s. That population came about from
unprecedented hatches that have never been repeated (and these hatches were
produced by relatively smaller spawning stocks). It led to an ecologically
unbalanced lake. Walleye growth rates began to slow, and forage fish were
severely cropped down. Remember trying to get lake shiners for perch
fishing in 1988 and 1989? We were all using fatheads and golden
shiners. The walleye stock today may be smaller, but it it sustainable.
The biggest problems seem to come from great expectations. Fishing is so
good that we expect to slam the walleye every time we go out. But the
various stocks move around considerably and continually shift feeding
behavior. A couple of slow trips and the cries arise that Lake Erie is
fished out. (This also implies great fishing expertise – if they were there,
we would catch them. If we made a poor catch, it’s because the lake is
fished out). Last August and September the message boards were full of
complaints that that the wildlife agencies were totally wrong about the walleye
population and that it was all but gone (oddly, a few folks still did fine in
those months). That same population provided fishing this month (April 2002)
that has been described as spectacular. It would be an interesting challenge to
find another lake anywhere that provides such great walleye fishing year after
year, but draws so many angler complaints.
Even in its lower-catch years, Lake Erie has remained the world’s most
spectacular walleye fishery. And judging from all those fish which reach old age
year after year, it’s not due to change. Let’s relax and enjoy it.
Fred"
