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Message Subject: Sag/Bay walleye stocking alert from my DNR bio-buddy

walleye express

Posted 1/13/2011 9:08 AM (#96106)
Subject: Sag/Bay walleye stocking alert from my DNR bio-buddy

Member

Posts: 2680

Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay.

Dan:

I don’t know if you saw this recent article from Booth News Papers but it basically says (from an assumption) that walleye stocking will be resumed in Saginaw Bay. This article is incorrect. It stemmed from that press release a couple of weeks ago where the DNR announced that our walleye culture efforts would resume. That only spoke to plans to rear walleyes again. It didn’t say anything about where they will be stocked or not.

We suspended walleye stocking in Saginaw Bay, as you know, in 2006 because of the explosion of natural reproduction. We said then that we would annually revisit that decision and would consider stocking resumption only if alewives came back (because we believe that their predation is what prevented good reproduction before) and if we had evidence of on going poor walleye reproduction. To date, there is no evidence of any of that. The small walleyes that the article references are simply young walleyes (a good sign). True growth rates are down but that was expected and regarded as an acceptable trade off for increased abundance. That was addressed in our recovery plan some years ago.

Where will walleyes be stocked? The DNR maintains stocking prescriptions for certain waters. Most likely they will be stocked in inland waters. There are some Great Lakes plants still, but none in Saginaw Bay.

At any rate, if you see this misunderstanding perpetuated on the bulletin boards, will you help set the record straight? Thanks.

Walleye stocking efforts ramped up this year, return to 2006 levels

January 11, 2011

Holly Setter | Mid-Michigan Booth Newspapers

BAY CITY — The waters are clearing up for walleye stocking efforts.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recently announced that it will resume its practice of raising and releasing young walleye in light of recent research.

Gary Whelen, fish production manager for the fisheries division of the DNR said the department had stopped stocking walleye in 2007 due to the threat of threat of an invasive and deadly virus, Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia.

The virus, which is not native to the Great Lakes, caused a large fish kill in 2006 throughout Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair River, the Detroit River, the western basin of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.

Whelen said that once the virus infiltrates a body of water, it’s almost impossible to get rid of it. As a precautionary measure, the DNR halted its walleye stocking efforts to prevent the spread.

The DNR had previously released between three and five million fingerling fish annually.
However, recent research has shown that walleye are not particularly susceptible to the virus and the DNR’s current disinfecting solution is effective against it.

“The virus will not penetrate walleye eggs,” Whelen said. “And it does not go from adults to progeny, so we feel confident that we can begin stocking operations again.”

Frank Majdecki, president of the Saginaw Bay Walleye Club, is hoping more fry and fingerling walleye will eventually mean more trophy fish in the bay.

“Over the last five or six years, we’ve noticed the fish aren’t as big in size as what they were,” Majdecki said. “The numbers are there, the size isn’t.”

Whelen said the department will not be quite up to full production this year, as roughly 15 of the state’s 50 hatching ponds will require maintenance before they can be used again.

"We feel pretty confident,” Whelen said. “Assuming we don’t experience weather failures, this should be a good year.”

Majdecki said the return to full stocking can’t come soon enough.

“We have more fishermen than ever now and we have no way of judging how much natural reproduction is actually happening,” he said. “The walleye fishery is pretty vital to the area because of its tourism draw. You can only take so much out without putting some back in.”

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