Monday, 05. November 2007
Spoiled tourney fish raise stink
Last weekend's Cabela's Masters Walleye Circuit championship on western Lake Erie has left a pack of Michigan lakeshore anglers fuming over several hundred dead walleye, many of them large, that did not survive what was billed as a catch and release tournament. Spokesmen from both Cabela's and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which supplied teams and live-fish tanks and handling equipment for the event, blamed the extraordinarily hot weather and daytime temperatures of 85 to 90 degrees during the three-day event. The spokesmen said that every effort was made to keep fish alive. Those fish that died were cleaned and donated to the Salvation Army. But that was not enough to smooth ruffled fishing feathers among locals. "This is a tournament for big prize money, for Cabela's big exposure," asserted Karen Orofino, a Luna Pier area charter fishing guide. "I'm not opposed to that, but they should have been more careful. Their setup was extremely poor." Matthews Bait in Monroe over two days cleaned and prepared for donation at least 315 walleye, which were turned in by event staff. These were the fish which did not survive the extended handling and round-trip from Dundee for release back in Bolles Harbor, where the MDNR has a launch ramp at the mouth of LaPlaisance Creek. Jason Vick, an owner of the shop who helped tally the fish for cleaning, said that the fish mostly were egg-laden females between 3 and 10 pounds. "I was going to the [Matthews] store to get bait when all those coolers [of dead fish] started coming in. These were huge, huge coolers," said Carl Jurcin, a Luna Pier fisherman. "If they had [had] the weigh-in at the ramp the fish might have had a chance." Each of the 59 teams of anglers was supposed to keep their catches in livewells on their boats. On return to the ramp the live fish were trucked 17 miles to the Cabela's complex at Dundee, where they were held for the official weigh-in and stage show. Afterwards they were trucked back to Bolles Harbor. A lot of them did not make it. "A charter captain cleaned 100 himself," said Orofino, noting that these fish were in addition to those taken to the bait shop. These, she added, are "not to mention the 20 I saw yesterday [Monday] floating in Bolles Harbor." The fishing guide acknowledged that she is in business to take out parties to catch and kill fish for the table. But she added: "It's not the same. I don't catch a walleye, then kill it and throw it back into the lake. The overall picture is, you do this every year all over, not just here, and you call yourselves sportsmen." Kristine Houtman, MWC events director, acknowledged that 55 percent of the catch overall was lost. "The number was a little higher than could be expected because of the unseasonably high temperatures for October," she explained, adding that coping with trying to keep fish alive was a challenge for event staff. "But the [dead] fish went to a good cause. We could have done better than that without the high temperatures." Houtman noted that the Ohio Division of Wildlife maintains a mandatory harvest policy for any walleye tournaments held in its waters. But it is the MWC's policy, she added, that "when catch and release is allowed we'd rather give it a try." About 15 years ago the In-Fisherman Professional Walleye Trail held an event at Put-in-Bay, and on a day of very stormy seas the walleye kept in teams' livewells were stressed and badly beaten-up. Even attempts to "fizz" the fish - relieve the air pressure in their swim bladders with syringes, done by state hatchery staff - did not help. Hundreds of fish were lost. After what state officials admitted was a public relations debacle at Put-in-Bay, the wildlife division instituted the mandatory harvest policy - even though the tournament circuits still insist on teams keeping and bringing in live fish, which later have to be dispatched and cleaned for charitable distribution following center-stage weigh-ins. For example, at the recent $675,850 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour 2007 championship, held at Cleveland at the end of September, at least 437 walleye were harvested after weigh-ins. Kurt Newman, Lake Erie basin coordinator for the MDNR, agreed that the hot temperatures posed a tremendous handling problem in the MWC event at Dundee and Bolles Harbor. "We don't condone or oppose them," Newman said of such catch-and-release events. "We work closely with them to improve survival. It's a mixed bag in how you perceive it." In reality, the fish that did not survive for release are a very small part of the annual harvest of thousands upon thousands of walleye from Lake Erie every year, among other species caught. "The resource wasn't damaged," he stressed. Roger Knight, Lake Erie program coordinator for the Ohio Division of Wildlife, agrees with that position. "To paint it as a biological problem is a reach," he said of harvesting small numbers of tournament fish in the face of the tremendous annual overall lakewide harvest." On the plus side of the event, Newman listed Cabela's extensive tournament-days sessions on working with young anglers, Salvation Army Outdoors, a kids derby, youth and family clinics. Building stewardship for the resource through youngsters, he said, is critical but a tough challenge to get at. Cabela's efforts are what is needed, he said. Knight agrees to a degree. "Tournaments have value. They keep people interested in fishing and environmental values."
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