Weekly News

Changes to Commercial Trap Net Fishing

Increasing Great Lakes depth limit from 90 to 130'

As most of you know there has been a substantial change in commercial fishery management with respect to the maximum depth trap nets may be fished. This change will take effect on May 7th. Over the last several months Todd and I have presented before the Lake Huron and Lake Michigan citizen advisory committees as well as the Natural Resources Commission. However, I want to provide you a detailed description of the issue in case questions are received from the public in the coming months.

For many years state licensed commercial fishermen have asked for a �level playing field� with tribal fishers when it came to depth restrictions. State licensed fishermen were subjected to a 90 ft depth restriction by statute and administrative rule while tribal fishers were not restricted by depth. This put state fishermen at a distinct disadvantage during the summer months as fish move into deeper water off shore. Beginning in 2001 the department initiated a 4 year study comparing paired nets set in 130 ft of water to those set at the current 90 ft limit. Five fishermen were utilized in the study with one in Superior, two in Huron, and two in Michigan with a 6th fisher added for Lake Michigan in 2003. Lifts were observed by division research personnel from 2001-2003 and the data was provided for analysis by Phil Schneeburger and Jim Johnson in 2004.

The study compared all relevant biotic and abiotic factors including: size and age structure of whitefish, mortality rates of sub legal whitefish, catch and mortality rates of target and nontarget species (lake trout, walleye, burbot, etc.), water temperature, lifting rates and season comparisons. The results revealed the following facts:

1) Nets set in 130 ft caught more legal whitefish than nets in 90 ft at certain times of the year which varied by lake and season.

2) The number of sub-legal whitefish caught was not significantly different between nets set in 90 and 130 ft.

3) The number of lake trout caught was not significantly different between nets set in 90 and 130 ft for any season or lake. Trend: In Lake Michigan noticeably less lake trout were caught in the deeper nets.

4) The number of lake trout mortalities was not significantly different between nets set in 90 and 130 ft for any season or lake. Trend: less overall mortality was observed in the deep nets.

5) The proportion of lake trout mortalities was not significantly different between nets set in 90 and 130 ft for any season or lake. Trends: none.

6) There was significantly less bycatch in nets fished at

130 ft. A total of 473 non target specimens were caught in 90 ft of water as compared with 58 specimens in nets set at 130 ft. (See table on slide 9 of accompanying presentation)

Based on these six facts, the department concluded there was no biologic justification behind the 90 ft depth restriction for trap nets established by Statute/Administrative Rule. The division then formulated a position in support of increasing maximum trap net depth to 130 ft through a Fisheries Order issued by the director.

We received positive feedback on the study results and proposed depth increase from user group representatives at the Huron and Michigan advisory committees and the Michigan Fish Producers Association annual meeting. On March 10, the study results and proposed Fisheries Order were presented to the Natural Resource Commission for information only. Several commissioners commended fish division staff for their work on this matter and no negative feedback was offered by the public during open forum period. At the April 7th commission meeting, FO-243.05 modifying the maximum trap net depth from 90 to 130 ft was offered for action and the director�s signature. Again no negative comment was taken and the order was signed, effective May 7, 2005. A copy of that order is accompanying this write up.

Therefore, on May 7th state licensed commercial fishermen will begin setting their nets in depths to 130 ft. With this change recreational anglers around the state will see nets in areas where there were none before, and although this information has been available, inquisitive calls should probably be anticipated. At your discretion, feel free to handle questions received or send them to me or Todd in Lansing. If you do handle some calls beside the chronology described above, here are some of the key talking points:

1) The number of commercial trap nets being fished has not increased.

2) The area where fishing can be conducted is greater with an increased depth limit but the overall concentration of nets is lower. This will result in additional space between commercial nets during the peak of recreational fishing in the summer.

3) Our three year study showed fishing trap nets deeper resulted in lowered catch rates and mortality of non target sport fish including: walleye, salmon, and perch.

4) Our three year study showed fishing trap nets deeper has no detrimental effect on lake trout catch or mortality rates.

5) This change only affects state licensed trap nets and no other regulations were amended.

More Coho salmon bound for Lake Michigan

DNR revives stocking program

Michigan fishery managers released 325,000 Coho salmon into the Grand River in downtown Lansing last month after taking two of the past four years off. Michigan State University reports thru Their Great Lakes Echo online news service that after skipping the Grand River in 2007 and 2009, the Platte River State Fish Hatchery sent four truckloads of the popular sport fish to stock at Lansing�s boat launch.

The hatchery, located 30 miles south of Traverse City, is the state�s main source of Coho salmon for stocking. Fish raised there are usually planted annually in the Grand, Boardman, Manistee and St. Joseph rivers, among others. But a funding shortage meant some rivers weren�t stocked as often in the past four years.

That gap will allow biologists to study the movement and survival of the salmon, said Jay Wesley, manager of the DNRE�s Southern Lake Michigan Unit. �Annually, about 3,000-5,000 fish return to the Grand River. We�re thinking maybe we can begin to stock only 50,000 Coho,� Wesley said.

Not all the salmon in the state�s waters come from stocking. Some reproduce naturally, but that�s more common in northern streams with cold water and gravel bottoms, said Jan Sapak, a biologist with the hatchery. �Coho salmon are native to the Pacific Ocean,� Sapak said. �They were brought here in

the late 1960s to reintroduce sports fishery in the Great Lakes after many of the game species were diminished.�

The Coho stocked the Grand River were yearlings that will return as adults in the fall of 2011. The salmon average a mere six inches when they are released but should weigh up to eight pounds when they return. The salmon will migrate to Lake Michigan around the Grand Haven area. Sticking together, the fish will move to southern parts of the lake, where anglers from Michigan, Illinois and Indiana can catch them.

�They have the whole summer of 2011 to continue feeding, and if the forage base is great, they�ll come back bigger,� Sapak said.

But not as many salmon return as officials would like, Wesley said. �Around 1 percent return, mostly because they have to travel 160 miles down the Grand River,� he said. �Survival from the downstream migration could be low.�

The salmon are stocked in Lansing so that the area is imprinted on them, making it more likely that they will return the following year, he said.

With stock costs, employee salaries, food, electricity, testing and trucking, Sapak estimates that each fish costs roughly $1. Because we raise more than one type of fish, it�s hard to figure the cost for individual species,� she said.

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