"We've been battling the DNR for years on this, and we haven't got anywhere, so we met with Governor Thompson." said commercial netter, Mike LeClair.

Commercial netters will be allowed to trawl for alewife in Lake Michigan and Green Bay after the 1997-99 Wisconsin State Budget Bill was passed today.

Wisconsin Sportfishing community leaders and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources are still in a tail spin over the amendment to the State Budget Bill. This decision disregards all biological science, and could be the demise of the forage base for the Lake Michigan salmon and trout fishery.

On Thursday afternoon, in a last minute move to pass the Budget though the Senate, the Republican Caucus capitulated to Senator Alan Lasee, and amended the Budget to allow Lake Michigan and Green Bay commercial netters to expand smelt harvest opportunities during daylight hours, and establish a harvest limit for alewife.

Alewife and smelt are the primary forage for Lake Michigan salmon and trout. Less then a decade ago Wisconsin ruled to disallow all commercial harvest of alewife when the salmon fishery crashed.

Biologists estimate the forage base to be at an all time low, and are awaiting FWS annual fall survey. Trawling for smelt during daylight hours will increase incidental catch.

Senator Lasee, a long time friend of the commercial fishing interests, said he was acting on behalf of Gov. Tommy Thompson.

According to an article written by Kevin Naze, in the Green Bay Press Gazette, Commercial Fisherman, Mike LeClair, of Two Rivers Wisconsin said "we've been battling the DNR for years on this, and we haven't got anywhere, so we met with Governor Thompson."

Senator Lasee said Le Clair and his brother Pete invited him to a meeting with the Governor earlier in the month where they gave Thompson a petition with 3,500 names of people in the Two Rivers are who favored the rule change.

Some anglers feel this may have stemmed from a controversial report released by Great Lakes Specialist Bill Horns, in June of 1997. The report,which used an absurd number of an estimated 35,268 metric tons of 2+ and older alewife as a base for an alewife workshop model, raised concerns by anglers who felt the correct estimate should have been approximately 9,000 metric tons and may have skewed the workshop outcome and given a false picture of the alewife and smelt biomass.

Governor Thompson can use his line item veto power to eliminate this from the budget, however it has been difficult to mobilize support in just two days. Anglers are encouraged to call the Governor at 608-266-1212 or e-mail at wisgov@mail.state.wi.us The more support we can get on this issue the better our chances of getting it removed.

N.Y. DEC Tightens Snagging Rules