‘Good management model’ key for fishery

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This article was published 18/05/2019 (2675 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba government did the right thing when it paid millions to buy back fish quotas from local commercial fishers and set new limits on what kinds of nets they can now use on Lake Winnipeg, a Manitoba research scientist says.

“If you have a well-managed fishery, there is room enough from everyone, but you need a responsible system of management,” University of Winnipeg fisheries biologist Scott Forbes said.

“There is room for all the fishers if we can all get along and agree on a good management model.”

Forbes, who has spent years studying the science of freshwater fish, said he applauded the province’s direction after Sustainable Development Minister Rochelle Squires recently announced steps to help protect the “long-term sustainability of the Lake Winnipeg fishery.”

During the May 6 announcement, Squires said the province had completed a successful round of quota buybacks from commercial fishers on Lake Winnipeg and would also move forward with a plan to implement new minimum mesh sizes for those fishers’ nets, and new limits on the size of fish that can be kept.

Forbes said he believes both moves by the province are “a good first step” towards making sure the fish in Lake Winnipeg that are most desirable to commercial fishers continue to exist.

“Before this announcement, I was describing the fishery as essentially unmanaged,” Forbes said.

“It’s been basically open-season, and I admire what Minister Squires has done because I know she’s taking a lot of heat for it.”

With the buyback now complete, the province has purchased 126 individual quota entitlements from 90 fishers, representing almost 525,000 kilograms of fish.

The total value of quota sold back to the province is almost $5.5 million.

Walleye is most valuable to Lake Winnipeg fishers, according to Forbes, but it is the species that is in grave danger of being fished right out of the lake if nothing changes.

“We are fishing at two to five times the sustainable rate for harvesting walleye and there is no restriction on how much walleye can be taken, so it inevitably leads to over-fishing of the most valuable species,” Forbes said.

After walleye, sauger is the next most valuable species to the commercial fishers and it is in worse danger of disappearing from the lake, he said.

“If nothing is done, there is an excellent chance that we lose sauger out of the lake entirely,” he said.

Along with buying back quotas, Forbes said the new restrictions on fishing nets and fish size on Lake Winnipeg will greatly help spawning.

“You should not harvest on a fish until it has had a chance to spawn once or twice before harvest — what inevitably happens is you fish the spawners down to a level that is incapable of replenishing the stock,” Forbes said.

“Right now, the fishery is targeting immature walleye and my estimation is that 85 per cent of female walleye in the harvest were immature in 2018 and that is absolutely in no way sustainable, because it limits reproductive capacity with the eggs.”

Between overfishing and the capture of immature fish, Forbes said what Lake Winnipeg has seen is an “alarming decline” in the two fish populations over the past 20 years or so.

“What we are seeing and what we have seen is the harvest in free fall,” he said.

Forbes also cautioned that those who fish Lake Winnipeg should not be fooled into believing the fishery on Lake Winnipeg is healthy every time they see a fish in the lake or pull one out of the water.

“There is as much fish in that lake as ever, there is more carp than we can shake a stick at, but walleye and sauger — they are on a downward decline,” Forbes said.

Forbes now hopes the province, scientists and fishers can find common ground and find a way for commercial fishers to continue making their living while protecting the long-term survival of the lake’s fishery.

“To be honest, there has been poor communication of the science to the fishing industry, but all the people I talk to are pro-commercial fishermen and they believe commercial fishery is important,” he said.

“We need to work together and use the science to make sure there is always going to be fish for them to fish.”

The Free Press reached out to a number of Lake Winnipeg commercial fishers for comment, but was told that Lake Winnipeg fishers were to put out a press release on the matter sometime next week in which they planned to convey a “unified message.”