Fisheries officials in the U.S. and Canada are drastically cuttingthe number of walleye they’ll allow to be caught in Lake Erie. TheGreat Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports… the populationof the game fish has dropped to a quarter of what it was just ten yearsago:
Transcript
Fisheries officials in the U.S. and Canada are drastically cutting the
number of walleye they’ll allow to be caught in Lake Erie. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Lester Graham reports. The population of the game fish has
dropped to a quarter of what it was just ten years ago.
In 1990 there was an estimated 100-million walleye in Lake Erie. Scientists
believe now there are fewer than 26-million. Weather seems to be the chief
culprit in the population drop. There’s been the wrong kind of weather for
successful spawning for the last several years. So regulators are cutting
the catch commercial and sport fishers are allowed. Roger Knight is a
research biologist with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. He says
that might give the walleye a chance to recover.
“So, if we can increase, for example, the number of eggs that are
out there every year, potentially, if there’s good weather conditions, we
could see a real banner hatch. And, if the weather conditions are poor, at
least we’ve done something to try to increase the reproductive capability.”
The researchers estimate that the reductions should save at least
one-million walleye each year.
For the GLRC, this is Lester Graham.