I read with great concern the article about the Fond du Lac Band’s plan to spear walleye in some small lakes in our area and the follow-up letter to the editor by a former local game warden. I am even more concerned after seeing the list of lakes where spearing will take place and the number of walleyes that can be taken (listed on the Band’s website, www.fdlrez.com). Nearly 2,000 spawning walleyes might disappear from 13 small lakes in a very short period of time. In one of the smallest lakes listed, nearly 20 percent of the DNR-reported walleye population over 10 inches may be speared.
When I first heard about plans to spear fish based on “fishing rights” in an 1854 treaty, I located several articles about how spear fishing was done 160 years ago. They describe the tribe members going out at night in canoes, using fire torches for light and handmade spears with tips made of available materials, and taking only the amount of fish that could be eaten right away or dried/smoked. This was the cultural heritage the treaty was meant to protect and was done for subsistence, not sport.
Now they go out in motorized boats with all the modern technology that is available, prowl the shallows with large floodlights on the boat, blind and then spear nearly helpless spawning walleyes using modern laser-sharpened spearheads. Can this honestly be called a cultural event, and is it for subsistence only? It certainly isn’t spear fishing for sport as there seems to be no skill involved and they might as well shoot fish as if they were in a barrel or electroshock them so when they float up they can pick out the best ones.
If what is about to take place in May concerns you, call your state legislators, the DNR Region 2 Fisheries Field Office, and the Fond du Lac spokesperson and let them know. Remember this year it may only be spearing but next year it may be netting too and increased quotas resulting in decreases in the daily limit for the rest of us that don’t have 160-year-old ambiguous “fishing rights.”
Jim Peterson
Lutsen
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