Health of pickerel stock part of wider debate

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This article was published 14/12/2017 (2324 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Manitoba fishers are warning that widespread concern about diminishing pickerel is distracting from problems affecting the lake.

On Dec. 1, the Free Press revealed the number of pickerel caught commercially in Lake Winnipeg has dropped by one-third in five years.

That data, reported by the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp., bolstered fears by advocates that a hands-off conservation approach led fishers to target its high-priced dish, and possibly create another fishery collapse.

Dauphin Tory MP Robert Sopuck has raised the issue in Parliament, saying allowing fishers to go after large pickerel, which are needed to sustain the species, was “tantamount to raping that population.”

Sopuck, a former fisheries biologist, fears large, female pickerel (needed to sustain the species) had become the highest-valued catch. But fishers, such as Baldue Nelson, say that’s not the case.

“It’s not that the pickerel is diminishing,” he said earlier this month. “The whitefish are using up the nets and crowding out the other fish.”

In June, the province reduced net sizes, which may have reduced the amount of large pickerel being caught. However, Nelson says pan-size fillets from small and medium pickerel have always netted a better price than the “jumbo” fish Sopuck is concerned about.

“There is nobody, that I know, that is cutting the large pickerel into steaks,” he said, adding fishing colleagues complain scrap fish are increasingly taking up net space, meaning fewer pickerel are being caught.

Bruce Benson, who recently owned a fish farm in Arnes, says the smaller nets will likely mean larger pickerel will die off uncaught, leading fishers to target smaller pickerel.

He says politicians should instead be concerned about the explosion in whitefish populations, which have more than doubled in the past five years, according to recent data.

Manitoba’s multispecies quota system allows fishers to buy rights to 6.52 million kilograms per year, but bundles fish species together. Because whitefish are a low-value species that can contribute to their quotas, Benson says fishers are tossing them back into the lake, where they then prey on pickerel eggs.

“There’s so much misinformation out there, that fishermen are getting a little bit frustrated,” Benson said.

“I feel like I’m taking crazy pills when I read the paper.”

Benson and Nelson both feel the province should publish more test-netting data, because the corporation reports only speak to what commercial fishers provided the company, not an estimate of how many fish are in the lake.

Yet, Paul Turenne, executive director of the Manitoba Lodges & Outfitters Association, says companies taking tourists out onto frozen lakes have seen a drop in pickerel.

“Up until last winter, Lake Winnipeg was known as the best place on earth to catch pickerel,” said Turenne, whose organization represents people who pursue subsistence or recreational fishing, but not commercial fishers.

Turenne says the provincial quota for commercial fishing seems to have risen through the years. “We’re not necessarily trying to point the finger at commercial fishermen, because they’re not catching any more than they’re legally allowed to catch.”

Last winter, the province had two envoys rove the province to discuss Manitoba’s withdrawal from the corporation. Their final recommendations to the province included buying out fishers’ quota by 20 per cent, because “without a mechanism to control fishing pressure on Lake Winnipeg, there is no possibility of sustainable management.”

Turenne supports that idea, especially if the province compensates fishers.

“Nobody wants to put commercial fishermen out of business,” he said, adding without making the quota specific to species, fishers “obviously gravitate to the most pricey fish.”

He laments the media has covered how Lake Winnipeg’s algae blooms affect tourism, but mostly ignored concerns about fish health.

“The fish are the key economic driver on that lake,” he said. “These fish matter to Manitoba; this is a very valuable resources for us and we’d like to see more attention from the public, from the government.”

In a recent email, provincial Sustainable Development Minister Rochelle Squires said the Manitoba government is considering a voluntary quota buy-back “to reduce the overall pressure on our fish stocks,” but would only do it after more consultation with fishers and other groups.

“Our government remains committed to restoring the sustainability of our fish population across all our lakes,” she wrote.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca

Fisheries envoy report