I see the tribes have declared they are going to spear the Minoqua chain guess 10 years of closure to rebuild the population and banning everyone else from keeping any was just a waste.
I personally don't care how the walleyes are legally harvested...speared, net, setline, rod and reel. Or when, spring or fall. Or with what technology. Dead fish is a dead fish.
I'm more concerned with the overall total harvest number. Clearly that number needs to be reduced by both tribal and non-tribal.
The six Chippewa tribes of Wisconsin are legally able to harvest walleyes using a variety of high-efficiency methods, but spring spearing is the most frequently used method. In spring, each tribe declares how many walleyes and muskellunge they intend to harvest from each lake. Harvest begins shortly after ice-out, with nightly fishing permits issued to individual tribal spearers.
They self impose a harvest limit, not nearly the same thing. This is a copy and paste directly from the WDNR website.
The only double standard is they are allowed to spear and we are not, but they quotas/harvest caps. The problem is technology has made it easier for them to reach the quotas and technology has allowed fishermen to locate and catch fish even when populations are low. Combined that leads to over harvesting.
Carpio, therein lies the problem, they aren't spearing like they did 100+ years ago, anymore than we are fishing like we did 100+ years ago. Both cultures have taken advantage of modern technology whether its 1,000,000 candle power spotlights or Garmin Panoptix. Technology has made us much better at harvesting fish, to the point that we are overharvesting many of the fisheries.
In theory I would say this is correct, however why the double standard?
- All but the Native cultures have mechanisms adjusted to fit the current harvest capabilities.
- All cultures, other than Native, have bag limits and seasons to control the harvest. Natives get to use all the technology without any control of harvest caps and do it during the Walleyes most vulnerable time, the spring spawn.
I would propose this then...... let them hop in their canoes, with their fiery torches, and spear as many Walleye as they can for one season. That would then be the future season quota. Following years they can use all the technology they want to spear fish up until that quota is reached to make it faster and more efficient. If at any time they think the quota needs to be changed, do a season as their ancestors had again and the quota will be adjusted to that amount for future seasons.
Draws, There are violators in the NA tribes AND non native outdoors people(I refuse to call them sportman). The difference is non natives get their name published in the court news and natives you never hear of a punishment, fine, or harvest privileges revoked.
Carpio, therein lies the problem, they aren't spearing like they did 100+ years ago, anymore than we are fishing like we did 100+ years ago. Both cultures have taken advantage of modern technology whether its 1,000,000 candle power spotlights or Garmin Panoptix. Technology has made us much better at harvesting fish, to the point that we are overharvesting many of the fisheries.
So much drama from 1 tribe, pretty sure they do it for sport and to rile you guys up. They spear half the fish every year, apparently the other 5 tribes don't need the same level of sustenance. They've always been good at putting on a show for the media. Its just northwoods politics.