A meeting scheduled for Monday at LTC by the Wisconsin DNR has been postponed. In an announcement late Friday morning, a release stated: “The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced today that the upcoming Lake Michigan Fisheries Management public meeting has been postponed.
Originally scheduled for Oct. 24 at Lakeshore Technical College in Cleveland, Wisconsin, this second public meeting will be rescheduled for December. The public comment period will remain open through Nov. 30.
The DNR is committed to actively engaging stakeholders in discussing future management options for the Lake Michigan fishery. DNR staff will continue to attend Lake Michigan stakeholder and sport club meetings throughout the rest of the year, gathering additional input to aid in future management options development.”
……………………………The original story can be found below………………………………
A meeting taking place at LTC in Cleveland on Monday will let the public help decide how Lake Michigan’s salmon and trout are managed in the future.
It’s an exercise that’s needed in order to balance the interests of many who count on the lake whether for fun or for profit, while paying attention to the ecosystem that supports it all. Much of that work is done by scientists keeping tabs on everything from the population of 40-pound Chinook Salmon and the balance between predators and prey, down to microscopic plankton that form the foundation of the underwater food chain. Monday’s meeting will bring together anglers, charter captains, businesses, conservation groups and other stakeholders to share ideas and input.
Sheboygan County’s tourism economy is largely tied to the lake, generating $389 million in 2021 according to the Wisconsin Department of Tourism. A good portion of that comes from hosting the one of the largest sport fishing fleets on the lake. Six of Sheboygan’s two dozen or so charter boats belong to Dan Welsch’s “Dumper Dan” Charters. Welsch has been in the business here since the mid ‘80s and regularly attends meetings in Madison with other captains. The meeting in Cleveland, he says, is important to get input from all interests, saying “This really helps bring the sport anglers, the private anglers in…other business owners, just people that want to come to the meetings are all welcome to do this, and the input is valuable from everybody.”
While the DNR manages many factors, Welsch said that Monday’s meeting is mostly about balancing the numbers. “Right now we just need to see how many fish are taken out of the lake so we accurately stock the lake. And we did have an increase…the first increase in decades. It was a three-year term, and the reason for these meetings right now, too, is we’re going back to the drawing board for another three-year term of what we’re going to do moving forward.”
Monday’s meeting starts at 6 p.m. in Centennial Hall West at LTC in Cleveland. You can find out more by visiting the DNR’s Lake Michigan Fisheries webpage.
Fish like this salmon are the subject of a DNR Public Meeting on Monday at LTC. Photo courtesy of Dumper Dan’s Charter
Comments